NewsChannel 7 and the American Cancer Society are committed to raising awareness of cancer, and that's why we are bringing you our Health Check 7 report, to share life-saving information about all types of cancer.

And one local woman says the Reach to Recovery program helped her after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Mary Kowatch of Wausau says, "I found out I had breast cancer in June of 2003... I think questions go through your mind when you're newly diagnosed as far as like, what is your prognosis, how long do you have to live, how to deal with the day to day situations."

But thankfully for Mary, the Reach to Recovery program was there for her.

The program connects recently diagnosed patients with cancer survivors, giving them a person to talk to about the specific situations a cancer patient might be dealing with, as well as giving them hope for the future.

Kowatch says, "You remember those conversations, even if it's one conversation that gives you hope, you can go back to that conversation in your mind, and give you the encouragement for the day that you needed."

And thanks in part to the help that Reach to Recovery gave her, Mary will be five years out next month.

Now she is turning around and entering the program once more, but this time as a volunteer.

And while she's mainly doing it to give others the help she received, she's found it's good for her as well, saying, "It also is therapeutic for myself, and it also is therapeutic for the people that I'm calling to give them hope. It's passing on a legacy of hope, I see it as."

And if you'd like to get involved with Reach to Recovery, you can contact your local chapter of the American Cancer Society.