Woman Says Doctors Refused Mammogram Before Finding Stage 4 Breast Cancer

A woman went viral online after revealing she was denied a mammogram because of her age just months before being diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer.

Philecia La'Bounty, or @philecialabounty on TikTok, posted the video on July 7 where it received nearly 900,000 views and 800 comments. The video can be found here.

Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women in America, making up about 30 percent of diagnosed cancers in women each year.

Research shows that the median age of breast cancer diagnosis is 62, with about nine percent of new cases in America found in women younger than 45.

According to the breast cancer screening guidelines published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), women 50 years and older are recommended to have a mammogram once every two years while women younger than 50 can choose to have it on an individual basis.

Stage 4—or metastatic—breast cancer means that cancer has spread beyond the breast tissue and to lymph nodes and often the bones, lungs, and liver.

The chance that an individual survives breast cancer is about 1 in 39, with more than ​​3.8 million breast cancer survivors living in the United States.

'Too Young'

"Misdiagnosed lump that turned into stage 4 breast cancer," the caption of the video read.

In the video, La'Bounty explained that she discovered the bump at the bottom of her left breast and decided to get it checked out at the doctor.

She explained that at the time, she made too much money to receive medicare and not enough for Obamacare but was not receiving insurance through her job.

She said that the lump was about the size of a marble, half an inch in diameter and that she went to the free clinic where she received an ultrasound and was told it was a benign cyst.

"But I was concerned so I asked the doctor to submit to the free program for a mammogram. At that time I was 29-years-old," she said. "It literally came back on the paperwork 'denied due to age and no family history.'"

She had the clinic resubmit the request which was again denied because she had "perfect" blood work and no other symptoms.

"They denied any other treatment, told me I was too young to have breast cancer, that I was healthy, it was just a cyst and come back if it bothered me," La'Bounty said.

Eight Centimeters

La'Bounty said that eight months later, the marble-sized cyst had grown to eight centimeters and became bothersome.

She decided to go back to the same free clinic where she received an emergency mammogram and emergency ultrasound.

"While she [ultrasound technician] was doing the ultrasound she kept going out for opinion and coming back in and that's exactly when I knew that it was cancer," she said.

She decided to visit another facility in Anaheim, California, a few days later where she was handed a piece of paper that said "breast cancer" on it before she was told to immediately go to the breast cancer facility.

"That's where I had eight biopsies," she said. "The next day following that I had an emergency PET scan and an MRI. After that I was diagnosed with stage 4 ductile carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and I was immediately put on six rounds of chemotherapy including the red devil that nearly killed me."

The "red devil" or doxorubicin is an intravenous chemotherapy treatment that got its name from the bright red color of the liquid. Patients often report severe side effects including hair loss, nausea, mouth sores, and some report heart damage and blisters on hands and feet.

According to the American Cancer Society, about 51,400 new cases of DCIS will be diagnosed in 2022, or about one in five.

Viewer Reactions

More than 800 users commented on the video, many criticizing the doctor who denied the initial mammogram and offering La'Bounty support.

"I wish these doctors would stop telling people we are too young to be having any kind of health issues," one user commented. "So sorry this happened to you."

"Cancer does not select an age it can happen to anyone," another commented. "I'm glad you are doing well! Doctors need to take cancer more serious."

"My goodness please sue!" another user commented.

Newsweek reached out to Philecia La'Bounty for comment.

Other Viral Stories

In July, a man went viral after revealing on Reddit that he left his wife after she received her cancer diagnosis and a woman was backed for wanting to divorce her husband after his cancer diagnosis.

Another woman was recently slammed online after revealing that she ditched her boyfriend with cancer to go on a trip with her friends.