Heidi Mann is a good example how your life can change in an instant.

She's also an example of how courage can help you overcome your most frightening experiences.It was last May that Mann, 49, of Jim Thorpe, had a fun vacation in Myrtle Beach with her daughter, her son-in-law, her two young granddaughters and a friend. Things were going great for Mann.On the way home, she felt something was wrong with her left breast. "It was swollen, warm and red," she said.She visited Dr. Elizabeth Perelli, who said there was an infection, which she treated. Dr. Perelli also urged her to have a mammogram of both breasts, even though she had been having such mammograms done since she was just 35 due to a family history of breast cancer.The mammogram wasn't due yet, but she took the doctor's advice.It saved her life.The left breast was infected, but a cancerous tumor was discovered in the right breast.The way Mann has not only bravely fought the cancer, but served as an inspiration to others through that fight has made her one of four recipients of the annual Courage Awards by the Tamaqua-Carbon Chapter of the American Cancer Society.The award will be presented during the annual telethon of the Cancer Society. The two-day event starts at noon on Saturday and Sunday, with the award being presented Sunday night.Since afflicted with cancer, Mann has been writing a blog on Facebook about her experiences.An example of the posts:Silly me I thought I didn't need anyone to take care of me. Not true. I needed my friends!Courage is asking for help, and accepting help. It's going for blood work and having them poke me four times for blood. It takes courage to have an allergic reaction to your chemo and have them administer it again.The nights I had such high heart rates and blood pressure I would need courage to make it through the night alone. I would call Heather and let her know to check on me in the morning.Courage is shaving or in my case using packing tape to pull out the remaining hair on my head. Courage was letting people see me cry, see me exposed, see me real.Bubbly dispositionMann was raised in Jim Thorpe and moved to Indiana and then Michigan. She returned to Carbon County after her mother Mary Jane Becker Woodward died of breast cancer at age 47.Mann was 48 when her cancer was diagnosed.She has a daughter, Heather, wife of William Mullen Jr. of Jim Thorpe, and two granddaughters, Hallie, 1 1/2, and Hannah, 4.She is employed as a senior sales executive for Heritage Signs in Nesquehoning.Because of her family history, Mann said that even though it was an infection in her left breast, "I treated it as cancer."Already the year before, she had concerns because of her mother's death. Mann took up healthy eating habits, she exercised, she began drinking juices. She also purchased cancer insurance and disability insurance.She keeps a bubbly disposition, considering the turmoil she already has endured in life.Her friend, Summer Keen of Lehighton, said, "She makes you remember to smell the roses."Her daughter said, "She's always posting on Facebook and it is always a positive spin."Financial issuesMann's ex-husband also had major health problems and had a kidney and pancreas transplant. She recalls on several occasions he would get calls that organs were available for transplant, rush to the hospital, and face the disappointment that the operation had to be postponed.Once she had the mastectomy, she could not work. She still had day-to-day expenses such as heat, food and taxes."There was nothing I qualified for in assistance not even a wig because they look at your income for the previous year," Mann said.The American Cancer Society helped with the "Look Good Feel Good" program, she said. They also offered to provide transportation to her treatments, but she was able to drive herself.She opted to have a double mastectomy the cancer was stage 3C and had spread to 14 lymph nodes. She also had tram flap reconstruction surgery, reconstructing the breast using tissue from her stomach.Mann said her friends were important during her time of recovery. One friend even spent her personal vacation time visiting from Indiana to stay with her.She was so weak she couldn't lift five pounds.She did a lot of reading and took supplements to ward off the ill effects of the chemotherapy.The cancer forced her to take six months off work. She spent that time doing such things as soap making, photography, making crafts, and spending time with family and friends. She did a lot of beading, giving all of them away.While going through the chemo, she even went on a cruise to Bermuda with her family. Her nurses gave her a "You go, girl" before she left for the trip.Once she switched from the chemo to radiation, she went back to work.Besides her blogs, she also posted videos on Facebook depicting the various stages of her treatment and even of her Bermuda trip.Mann recently wrote on her blog:So tonight I think about the ACS courage award and what it means to me. Oddly enough I am a person that has eaten a scorpion, took a ride on a mechanical bull, and purchased tickets to sky dive. I face fear. And think about others doing the same thing. I tell myself if others have done it and survived then why can't I? I am good at reasoning with myself.She is convinced her cancer will return. But she says it won't until she's 90 because she plans to live a long, healthy, and happy life.Other courage award nominees are Nancy Betz of Tamaqua, Geralyn "Gerri" Andrews of Lehighton and Nick Hawkey of Kunkletown. Winners will be recognized on the telethon, broadcast on Blue Ridge Cable around 7 p.m. Sunday.