Andrea Ivory will tell you that the worst thing that ever happened to her -- being diagnosed with breast cancer five years ago -- also proved to be the best thing that ever happened to her.

Having survived the deadly disease, Ivory, 50, of North Miami-Dade, says she found her calling.

``This all started on a prayer, with me looking for a purpose in life after my illness,'' said the wife and mother who was once a commercial real-estate agent.

That purpose: create a not-for-profit called the Florida Breast Health Initiative, which has helped provide more then 500 low-income women with free mammograms out of a mobile medical van.

The work has put Ivory in the running to be named a CNN Hero of the Year and win $100,000 at a red-carpet award show in Los Angeles to be aired Thanksgiving Day. Ivory has already won $25,000.

To help get the viewer vote out for Ivory, Jackson Memorial Hospital on Wednesday sponsored a rally in her honor inside the Ira C. Clark Diagnostic Treatment Center.

``We need more people like you,'' said Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, who declared Wednesday Andrea Ivory Day.

``Vote often!'' said Miami-Dade Commissioner Barbara Jordan, calling the charismatic Ivory a woman ``who took matters into her own hands.''

Ivory's new path began in 2004 when doctors found cancer in one of her breasts. Ivory knew she was fortunate. She had insurance and was diagnosed early.

Her successful treatment began, but what she witnessed during her care stayed with her. For uninsured women, early detection was minimal and so was the survival rate.

That haunting realization eventually gave her a new purpose and career. Since March 2006, the organization has visited nearly 20,000 homes and helped 500 women get free examinations.

The group finds low-income women in Miami-Dade and Broward counties by knocking on doors. The women are signed up and given appointments for the tests, provided in a mobile mammogram machine.

Among her 2,000 volunteers are college students, doctors and housewives -- and even women helped by her program. Consider the case of Nereida Aguayo, 45, of Miami. She needed a mammogram but couldn't afford one.

``I was sure I was going to die,'' she said. Through Ivory's program she was given a mammogram and received the good news that she didn't have cancer.

Now, she volunteers for several weeks alongside Ivory, canvassing needy neighborhoods. ``I feel like I'm giving back,'' she said.

The group partners with several groups, such as the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and JMH's Taylor Breast Health Center, which provides the mobile mammogram van.

Aside from her volunteer work, Ivory is a second-year student majoring in public administration at Barry University’s School of Adult and Continuing Education in Miami Shores.

Ivory credits her husband Willie with allowing her to pursue her vision and giving her a go-ahead to launch her grass-roots organization with about $7,000 from their own pockets. Said Willie Ivory: ``Her idea had to be a vision from God. I said go for it.''

To cast your vote for Ivory, go to www.cnn.com/Heroes

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