A lot can happen in two and a half years. February 2008, Munson's Smith Family Breast Health Center opened it's doors.

In the short time since then it has already earned a special award as a "center of excellence."

Tonight in our Buddy Check report we introduce you to a woman who knows first hand the spirit of the center.

Sharon Timmons knows a thing or two about mammograms.

She says, "the health community said you should have a mammogram every year age 40 and on and so that's been a long time between 40 and 73.

In fact she had more than two decades of consecutive and uneventful annual screenings. But then things changed on the even of the new millennium. Timmons says, "In 1999 they saw something abnormal. I had been doing self breast exams but nothing was found. It was the mammogram that identified it."

11 years later she is proud breast cancer survivor. But she admits the anxiety remains. Timmons says, "You live with your diagnosis daily. You shower, you do your self breast exams, and you know you've had cancer."

Now she is helping other women as a volunteer at Munson's Smith Family Breast Health Center. The former nurse is often the first face patients see at the registration desk. She likes helping other women feel more at ease with the process. Timmons says, "often I have said, I understand, I have been there, done that.

It's not only the comfort of her own experience, but also her environment. Timmons says, "No Client has ever made a mistake here. It's always, 'it's ok. We can take care of that."

That caring spirit is only one thing that distinguishes the facility. Recently it earned a Center of Excellence Award from the American College of Radiology. Director of Breast Imaging Dr. Charles Weitz says, "I am very proud of the efforts the entire staff has delivered over the last number of years. I think we are demonstrating through this kind of award we're able to offer similar quality, high quality service to this part of the country."

The $3.8 million dollar facility was built with more than 2,000 community donations, an investment that's now helping save lives of friends and neighbors. Dr. Weitz says, "Breast cancer is unfortunately not an uncommon disease in this area and across the country. We see in this particular area between 200 and 250 breast cancer patients per year."

Munson's Smith Family Breast Health Center sees about 35,000 patients a year for services ranging from mammography, ultrasound, MRI and biopsies.