A local woman is speaking out against the new recommendations for breast cancer detection. She says if it wasn't for a mammogram in her 40s, she would have died from the disease. Our Karen Lee sat down with Pam Proctor and has her story.

ONONDAGA COUNTY, N.Y. – Fifteen years ago, Pam Proctor's doctor suggested she get a mammogram as part of a routine physical. Though she didn't feel sick and could not feel a lump, tests came back positive for breast cancer. Proctor was 42-years-old.

"My cancer was very fast-growing. I mean, I was stage two and if I hadn't had that mammogram, I would have died," said Proctor, a North Syracuse resident.

She spent the next year undergoing painful procedures to remove the tumor, getting her ovaries taken out, chemotherapy and radiation. But Proctor has been cancer-free ever since and in 2000, she even won a Woman of Courage award.

"It was a celebration of all women and the things we have to go through. Life is so precious and so important and you can't take anything for granted," she said.

Proctor rarely thinks about those darker days, but she says new findings from a government task force brought it all back. The group of scientists and doctors say women in their 40s should not get mammograms. Instead, they say tests should begin at age 50 and be taken every two years.

"I was angry. I thought, this is going to kill a lot of women," Proctor said.

But the task force says it reached its conclusion because there were too many false alarms for women in their 40s. It estimates you have to screen 1,900 women to save one person in this age range, while the rest are exposed to harmful x-rays and biopsies. Proctor argues, however, that even saving one life is worth it.

"Even if we're in the small percentage out of how many women, every life is important," said Proctor.

Groups like the American Cancer Society are backing Proctor and will continue to tell women to get screened annually beginning age 40.

The task force findings are in line with international guidelines that call for screening to start at age 50. The World Health Organization also recommends that mammograms be taken every two years.