A woman who was misdiagnosed with breast cancer is sharing her story to raise awareness.
"On paperwork, I'm classified as terminal, but I'm not going to let this take me anytime soon," Philecia La'Bounty said.
I am shouting from the rooftops to raise awareness to make cancer a chronic illness instead of a death sentence.
There are three key questions women of all ages should ask.
She said she was 29 years old when she first found the lump.
She asked her boyfriend if he could feel it.
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She was able to get a physical exam through an alternative health care program because she wasn't insured.
We received the results within two weeks. They said it was nothing to worry about.
Doctors told La'Bounty that her blood work and body mass index were in good shape.
La'Bounty requested a mammogram because she didn't know if she had breast cancer.
The patient was denied due to their age and no family history.
She said that the lump grew in four to eight months.
When she returned to her clinic, she was advised to have immediate testing because she didn't feel well.
An emergency mammogram was performed at the facility in Anaheim.
La'Bounty said that medical staff spent about an hour talking about her results.
She said that she said that it was bad. You can see in their faces how hard they tried.
Breast cancer surgery brands cater to women who have been diagnosed with the disease.
She said that she was told that she had breast cancer and that her results were going to be sent to a doctor.
I was like, oh my gosh. I did what I was told to do. She said that she was told she was too young for a mammogram.
One week later, La'Bounty had eight biopsies, four in her left breast, two in her right and two in her underarm. She had a number of scans and mammograms.
La'Bounty said that she felt like every day she was there for another scans.
I told my boyfriend I couldn't breathe. I need to be seen, but I don't know if it's because of what's happening, but I need to be seen.
We went to the emergency room. The doctor told La'Bounty that he couldn't breathe because of all the tumors in his lungs.
She was told by doctors that she had cancer in her lungs, chest, and left breast and that it had spread to her left arm.
She said that she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer.
Patients who respond well to pre-SURGICAL treatment may be able to get a tetanus vaccine.
La'Bounty said she was grateful to have found a lump in one of her breasts, but she didn't know she had a cancer lump in her arm.
I was working as a model. I didn't have a single symptom. I didn't have a coughing fit.
She has had six rounds of different types of cancer treatment. According to the National Cancer Institute, doxorubicin is used in patients with breast cancer if the cancer has spread to the arm or other parts of the body.
La'Bounty said that this type of treatment made her very ill and she was unable to drink or eat food.
She said that it was very hard in the hearts.
The patient was free of tumors by the sixth treatment.
Her fallopian tubes were taken out. The procedures that put her in menopause put her in at 31 years old.
The first oncologist didn't talk about fertility with me. She said that Chemo made her sterile.
She asked if it was possible to rip out every hope of having a family without discussing it with her. I went ahead with the devil because I wanted to live.
The risk of breast cancer is reduced by exercising.
La'Bounty was told of her fertility options. They now have 10 frozen eggs.
La'Bounty said, "I said, 'Yes,'" I don't plan to die.
She said that they are talking about finding a surrogate.
It's unsafe to carry a child because of La'Bounty's cancer diagnosis.
She takes a pill every day to stop the production of estrogen.
She said that she will be a mom someday, but that she won't get to experience it fully because of her cancer battle.
La'Bounty said she's focused on getting better and having fun with her family.
Maggard is a support system for La'Bounty's mother who has stage 1 cancer. His grandmother is a stage 1 survivor.
La'Bounty said that he has kept her busy. I didn't focus on the cancer. I wasn't thinking about our next event.
In an email to Fox News Digital, Maggard explained how he reacted to the news of La'Bounty's cancer diagnosis.
He said that a lot of that morning was a blur. I didn't know how to respond. It was difficult to figure out what was going through Philecia's head that morning.
She was scared, in shock, and mad, but she was quickly going over her choices. She can either choose to lay in bed for the rest of her life or to fight like she has never fought before. Maggard said that she was the toughest person he had ever met.
He went on to say that she has never thought about giving up.
She has a lot to give and a lot to live for.
La'Bounty and Maggard enjoy taking their dog Canyon for walks, grabbing coffee and spending time on the beach.
They like to camp at a river in Arizona. Maggard built La'Bounty a chopper so they could ride together for coffee and dinner after she got her motorcycle license.
La'Bounty said he would be fighting forever. We are trying to figure out a new normal and how to make our dreams come true.
American men have a one in 800 chance of getting breast cancer, while American women have a one in eight chance.
Approximately 42,000 women die of breast cancer each year, according to the CDC.
About 2,400 men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year and 500 die from it, according to the CDC.
Medical professionals and organizations recommend mammograms for women in their 40s and 50s since breast cancer is more common in older women. Mammography is the breast cancer screening method that has led to age-based debate.
"We are going in the wrong direction," La'Bounty said.
I hadn't seen anyone close to my age go through this before.
She said that most of the women she met were diagnosed in their 20s and 30s. A woman who was 18 years old was diagnosed with breast cancer.
There are more tips for women who are questioning their own health.
La'Bounty said that she felt that something wasn't right.
She asked why she was being brushed aside and why she had never had a cyst. They told me that I was okay.
She wants other women to pay attention to their bodies.
She said there were no boundaries when it came to health care. You should be doing a full-body rubdown every single month.
Go see anything that feels strange. It's not normal if it's too young.
You have a right to fire your doctor if you don't like the way he or she is treating you.
What other women can learn from Kathy Coric's battle with breast cancer?
You don't have to feel bad if you don't agree with your treatment plan.
Don't give up until you're sure that what's going into your body is okay.
The Keep A Breast App can be used for a breast cancer self check.
Most of the money goes to stage 4 research, which gets the least amount of funding, according to La'Bounty.
According to Fox News Digital, Dr. Kathleen Kiernan Harnden said that having one first-degree relative with breast cancer doubled a woman's risk.
A family history of breast cancer is one of the high risk factors.
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Harnden said there are three questions all women should ask themselves before requesting a mammogram.
This is the first thing. Is my risk of breast cancer higher?
There are two What can I do to reduce my risk?
There are three. Are my mammograms two-dimensional or three-dimensional?
Information about mammograms and breast cancer can be found here.
The report was contributed to by a Fox News Digital employee.
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