SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — Doctors recommend women get their first mammogram when they turn 40, but for some women, it’s that first exam that tells the story.

“All I could hear is cancer,” said Ty White, a single mother of two. “I just felt like life had really happened for me and it was showing up in my body.”

She was happy to put behind her a worldwide pandemic, a divorce then a scary birth, only to be knocked back down.

“Everything can change in the blink of an eye and we are never really promised tomorrow,” said White.

She doesn’t have any family history of breast cancer. She only got her mammogram because of an email reminder about her 40th birthday from her doctors.

“I’m so thankful because it could have been so different,” said White.

Her cancer was caught early, and after 21 rounds of radiation, she went into remission in July.

“I had a lot of what ifs and who’s gonna take care of these girls,” said White. “I absolutely adore them and the thought of them having to bury me makes me very emotional.”

“I don’t think that email came to me by happenstance,” said White.

Feeling spared, now she urges the women in her life to be more aware of breast cancer. Know the signs. Know your body. Know your history.

“The ladies that are out there listening, go get your mammogram,” said White. “It is so, so important.”