Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the U.S., and the American Cancer Society urges women to talk with their physician about when to get screened during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The American Cancer Society recommends that women between the ages of 40-44 who are at an average risk for breast cancer start receiving a mammogram every year until age 54, and screening should continue as long as a woman is in good health and is expected to live at least 10 more years. American Cancer Society Senior Community Development Manager Kim Durst shares when she began screenings, “Really, it depends on the individual, but personally myself I started cancer screenings at age 35 because I have lost my mother to breast cancer and ovarian cancer, as well as an aunt to breast cancer. So they were very vigilant in starting me in the process of mammograms annually.”

Durst also recommends for those who have a first-degree relative (sister, or mother, for example) who were diagnosed to get the BRCA gene test, a blood test that uses DNA analysis to identify harmful mutations in either one of the two breast cancer susceptibility genes.