Religious folks might call what happened to Miss Pink* a miracle. Those that aren’t would call it nothing more than luck – really, really good luck.

Miss Pink is grateful that one day in January she made a peculiar movement while getting dressed and accidentally grazed the hard lump growing inside her breast. More importantly, she is hoping that nobody else will have to rely on miracles or luck to discover a disease that has changed her life forever and directly or indirectly affects millions of Americans each year.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2005, the most recent year numbers are available, 186,467 women in the U.S. were diagnosed with breast cancer. That same year, 41,116 women died of the disease. Aside from non-melanoma skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women. For white, black, Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian/Alaska Native women, breast cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death. For Hispanic women, it’s number one.

Countless marathons, walkathons and other events have raised money and awareness about breast cancer. Pink ribbons, pink cocktails and even pink covers of Sports Illustrated have attempted to get the word out. October has been designated National Breast Cancer Awareness.

Miss Pink was well aware of such events before her diagnosis, however, at 25 years old and with no history of breast cancer in her family, she wasn’t in the high-risk demographic for the disease. She assumed she was immune. “I always thought that I couldn’t [get breast cancer] because of my age. Why would it be me? It’s older women. Why would it come to me when I don’t have any history of it in my family?”

As Miss Pink discovered, breast cancer isn’t only a disease that affects older women. Today, some cancer-related charities are making attempts to reach younger demographics by using a surefire attention getter: Sex.

The Web site Boobiethon.com, for instance, raises money for breast cancer research through bloggers sending in pictures of their covered and uncovered boobs. Similarly, Spice Girl turned soccer mom Victoria Beckham posed nude for a Marc Jacob T-shirt with the message “Protect the skin you’re in” to raise awareness about skin cancer.

Miss Pink still thinks more can be done. She’s teamed up with friend Amin Benny to become the face (and body) of a new, Vegas-based charity: Get Naked 4 Cancer.

Benny came up with the concept for the cheekily named charity with his brother-in-law, Daniel William Bistline, who died after a two-year battle with leukemia. The 22-year-old Bistline was unable to work due to his illness, and Benny believed the family should create a charity to help collect money. Bistline, and other cancer patients, need to focus on recovery, not finances.

Though Bistline died before the charity could be formed, Benny is determined to raise $900 for the application fee to help the group become a recognized nonprofit organization. Once recognized, the process of obtaining a business license should be easier, Benny says, and the organization can begin raising money to help those currently battling cancer and the tepid economic climate, like Miss Pink.

In the meantime, Get Naked 4 Cancer is accepting photo submissions via e-mail and setting up photo shoots for people willing to donate their time for more high-quality photos. Those that participate in a photo shoot will be able to view the photos of others who have done shoots online. Benny says the draw is that these individuals will know they gave their support and helped draw people into an organization that increases awareness about breast cancer.

Benny is still working out the details of whether people who have not participated in a photoshoot but have donated a large amount to the charity will be able to view the nude photos, as well.

As for the nudity, there’s more to it than simple shock value. “The fact is that cancer affects your entire body,” Benny explains. “There is no more way to be stripped completely naked than to have a disease that you’re unable to control. You’re helpless.”

The message, and the nudity itself, Benny hopes, will pique interest in the charity, and hopefully propel visitors into making cash donations. Benny believes the concept will fare well with a younger, modern crowd. Get Naked 4 Cancer plans to target art scenes like First Friday and Burning Man.

Whether you consider Miss Pink’s cancer detection luck or a miracle, what matters most is that it happened early into the disease, before it progressed to her lymph nodes. Still, even after the results of a biopsy came back positive for an intensive type of breast cancer, Miss Pink says the news didn’t immediate sink in. “I had a very short time to react,” she says. “I was thrown in and [within] two months [I was] on chemo[therapy]. No time to think. No time to process or assess it.”

Now 26 years old, Miss Pink is halfway through her treatment. The therapy sessions can be grueling, often five or six hours at a time for several days in a row. She juggles treatment with a full-time job and the demands of being a single mom. It’s the most challenging time of her life, she says, and it requires a lot of humor to get by.

Miss Pink was 25 years old when she accidentally discovered she had breast cancer.

“The best way to make someone feel comfortable about it is to poke fun,” she says. “I learned to do that very well. It gets me through.”

Still, she admits it’s a struggle.

“Everyday when I wake up, it’s the first thing that’s on my mind,” she says. “Everything is so consumed with your illness and being sick. You constantly think about it. Everyday. All day.”

While Miss Pink’s breast cancer did not require a mastectomy, one typically female trait was lost: her long hair. Once reaching to the middle of her back, Miss Pink cut her hair short after her diagnosis; then, she watched as radiation made it fall out in patches. Finally, she shaved her head. Miss Pink says losing her hair was troubling less because of aesthetics and more because she couldn’t hide her cancer any longer.

Unable to disguise it, she embraced it, deciding through her work with Get Naked 4 Cancer to become spokeswoman for prevention. “I’ve helped some people stop smoking, which is another big thing, even though that’s a completely different (kind of cancer),” she says. “It affects everybody differently. Some people will stop what they’re doing and be like, ‘Oh my goodness. I can’t believe it,’ and go get checked the next day. Some people are just stubborn.

“It’s discouraging, and it makes me sad. In the end, there’s nothing that I can do,” she continues. All I can do is educate and talk about it.”

* Miss Pink’s name has been withheld to protect her privacy. The nickname is a nod to Reservoir Dogs , also the designated color for breast cancer awareness.