Everyday Extraordinary: Philecia La’Bounty

My name is Philecia La’Bounty, and I am a stage four breast cancer survivor. I was misdiagnosed in 2018 at the young age of nearly 30 years old. One night, while I was adjusting my shirt during a movie, I discovered a marble sized lump at the bottom of my left breast. When my boyfriend and I got home, we agreed I should go and get it checked out.

At the time, I didn’t have insurance through my job. I also didn’t qualify for Obamacare or state-assisted insurance, and the rates for private insurance were beyond what I could afford. My only option was to visit a free clinic. They did a physical examination and an ultrasound, and about a week later, I was informed my lump was a benign cyst. 

Something about their diagnosis didn’t sit right with me. Even though I was young, I had never had a cyst in my breast before. I requested a mammogram through the program, and they denied me based on my age and lack of family history. When I asked them to resubmit, I was denied again for those same reasons. They said I was too young to have breast cancer. 

Aside from the lump, I had no reason not to believe them. My bloodwork was great, and I felt great. I was modeling internationally, traveling, cross-fitting, riding motorcycles, and living a really fun life. So, I put it out of my mind. After all, I had never known of anyone in my situation. I was never taught to fight harder for medical treatment, so I didn’t know I could do it. 

Between six and eight months later, I noticed the lump was getting really large. I didn’t have any other symptoms and I felt completely fine, but it was starting to become unattractive. When I went back in to explore the possibility of having it removed, I had a completely different experience at the clinic. All of a sudden, everything was an emergency — emergency ultrasound, emergency mammogram, emergency biopsies. I was in a state of shock: why are we doing all of this? I thought I was fine.

When the tests came back, I found out I had stage four breast cancer that had spread from my left breast to both my lungs, my sternum, and a lymph node in my left armpit. It hadn’t even been a year since I first found my lump, and I was now being classified as having terminal cancer.

My entire life flipped upside down. I was so confused as to why this was happening to me. Months before I had been too young to qualify for a test, and now I was being told I had a 2% chance of living. I had a port put in so I could receive chemo treatments. I planned a head shaving party, and broke the news of my new diagnosis to all my friends and family. 

Doctors began asking me if I wanted children and informed me I’d never be able to carry them on my own. My life became a massive blur of colossal decisions. In the face of death, I needed to figure out my life — fast.

It was terrifying. All I could do was keep pushing forward to each appointment. I took each day, and each decision, one at a time. I broke down. I picked myself back up. I moved ahead. Rinse and repeat. I went through six rounds of chemo and did my best to focus on the positives whenever I could find them.

It took me years to find other women fighting stage four who were surviving. A lot of people don’t know that Olivia Newton John had been fighting stage four breast cancer since 1997 before she died earlier this year. I found a woman who has been surviving with stage four for twenty three years. And I said, you know what? That’s going to be me. I’m not going to lay down and die, and I’m not going to be quiet. 

I realized that I deserved quality care, whether I was insured or not. I deserved autonomy over what happened to my body. I deserved to feel like I was going to survive. I channeled all my frustration, anger, and sadness into fighting for change. I began to share my story on social media. Had I seen anyone even remotely close to my age fighting for further testing, or talking about medical gaslighting, I would have done more. If I can save one person by posting my trauma, then it’s worth it. 

It’s been so rewarding getting emails and messages from people telling me I helped them gain the courage to schedule their mammogram. I even get messages from men telling me my posts have given them a deeper understanding of what their wives with cancer have been going through. It has really fueled my mission to change how the world looks at stage four. How do we get better, more accessible testing? How do we develop medication that turns stage four into a chronic illness instead of a death sentence?

I’m proud to share that I recently celebrated three and a half years of remission, which means I have no active cancer in my body. My life is different now: I’ll forever be on chemo, and I’ll forever be on medications. But I also gained a new community, a new perspective, and a new mission. I hope this gives strength to those being diagnosed, helps other survivors not feel alone, and helps educate others on how they can support loved ones going through this. 

If you have any questions, want to see more day-to-day content, or want to connect, you can find me on Instagram (@philecia) and TikTok (@philecialabounty). I look forward to meeting you!