Get in Touch Foundation's Making Global Connections

Saudi Arabia was the country with the most downloads of the Daisy Wheel breast health app for the iPhone yesterday.

This news may slide under the radar for most, but for Mary Ann Wasil Nilan it's an exciting example of how far her organization has come and evidence that its message is one that hits home with women the world over.

Nilan, a resident of Milford, Conn., is the founder of The Get In Touch Foundation, an organization that provides free information about the importance of breast health.

Nilan's daughters were 12 and 13 years old in 2004 when she found out she had breast cancer. Faced with this uncertainty and the reality of her own mortality, Nilan was concerned about the welfare of her daughters, her son and her husband.

After undergoing chemotheraphy, suffering a stroke during treatment, having  heart surgery, more chemo and a bi-lateral mastectomy, Nilan emerged cancer free and determined to, as she puts it, "kick this cancer thing right in the teeth."

She was immediately alarmed at the lack of breast health information out there, especially in schools. In fact, she says, there was nothing. "I was shocked," she says.

Humble Beginnings

Sitting at her dining room table, she remembers saying to her friend, Suzanne Manning, "We need to do something about this."

Seven years later and the organization has grown organically from an idea into a global movement. Focus groups with young girls, conversations with health professionals and feedback from breast cancer survivors have all helped shape how the Get In Touch Foundation fulfills its mission.

And a pink daisy is at the heart of it. "The daisy sets us apart," Nilan says. "I instantly had a vision of it."

Pink is, of course, the color associated with breast cancer. And October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Beyond that, though, the daisy has much more meaning to The Get In Touch Foundation. "It's beautiful, It's bright. It's alive," says Nilan, who was recently named Bright Starts 2011 Pink Power Super Mom.

The organization's trademark Daisy Wheel also uses the flower's pedals to its advantage. Spinning the wheel uncovers the eight steps to conduct a self breast examination.

The Get In Touch Foundation launched its Daisy Wheel program on Sept. 1, 2009. Within 24 hours, 23 states had signed up to participate and incorporate the wheel and breast health into school curriculum, including Connecticut and, locally, Milford.

Today, the Daisy Wheel can be found in 20 countries and in 46 states in the U.S. The organization is on target to distribute 1 million daisies by 2014.

And, thanks to technology, the Daisy Wheel app for the iPhone is in 26 countries.

Information Empowers

Of paramount importance, Nilan notes, is that the information and the app are free. "We want to help people and give them the help they need," she says.

Her friend and Foundation supporter Tessa Marquis chimes in, "There's nothing more powerful than free information."

The idea behind targeting young girls is that it will help instill in them early on the healthy habit of conducting self breast exams, and also leave girls feeling more confident about their bodies - to 'get in touch' with them.

"When I was young there was no information," Marquis says, until the release in the 1970 of the ground-breaking book, "Our Bodies, Ourselves."

Marquis became involved with Get In Touch early on after seeing a video on the organization's website.

"I just wanted to do anything I can do to help," she says. "This is the most important thing that has happened for women's health since that book."

GIT Your Pink On Day

Today, Oct. 21, has officially been declared "GIT Your Pink On Day" in Connecticut. Milford state Rep. Kim Rose read the proclamation from Governor Dannel P. Malloy to Nilan yesterday .

Get in Touch shares the space with Milford Living. The property is owned by a Milford man who lost his wife to breast cancer.

The support from the community has been "huge, huge, huge, huge," Nilan says, running down a lengthy list of local businesses that have helped Get In Touch over the years. "The local support has been phenomenal."

You can in downtown Milford. Information is also available on the organization's website.