CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- February is National Cancer Prevention Month and one cancer survivor didn’t know she had a deadly cancer until a routine wellness exam saved her life. 

"I was overdue for a regular gynecologic checkup. It was August and I knew I should make an appointment but I figured I’d wait until the fall and my doctor's office kept chasing me saying 'it’s time to get in here,'" said Cynthia Hayes, a cancer survivor.

Like so many other Americans, Hayes put off getting her wellness exam. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 40 percent of American adults delay their medical exams. 

"I finally made my way into the gynecologist's office and it was perfectly fine exam.  They said you look great and get out of here. A week later, I was walking down the sidewalk and the phone rang and my gyno said we didn’t like what we saw, you need to get back in here," said Hayes.

That’s when she found out the news that would change her life forever. 

"A week after that, they told me, 'you have cancer.' It came totally out of the blue," she said.

A University of Virginia cancer epidemiologist. Dr. Li Li, recommends that people get their regular scheduled exams.

"If you detect cancer early, the prognosis is much better," he said.

Hayes was diagnosed with cancer in 2015 and is now cancer-free.

"I refer to that pap smear as the one that saved my life because if I hadn’t gone for the pap smear at that time, the cancer would have been much more advanced," she said.

During the pandemic, it’s been hard for people to prioritize their wellness exams, but Li and Hayes recommend people still go to their regularly scheduled exams.