Reality TV contestant's thyroid cancer spotted by doctor watching at home
A US woman was diagnosed with thyroid cancer after a doctor spotted a symptom of the disease while watching her on a reality TV program.
Nicole McGuinness was starring on Beachfront Bargain Hunt when Dr Erich Voigt noticed a concerning mass on her neck as he watched along at home.
“As a head and neck surgeon, I'm trained to notice these things,” he told ABC News.
Dr Voigt took to Facebook in an effort to warn Nicole.
“I am watching a TV show and notice this woman has a left thyroid mass,” he wrote. “She needs a sonogram and fine needle biopsy I wonder if she knows and hope it's benign.”
The message made it to the 32-year-old through a friend of her mother.
“We were sort of in shock, we did not expect a doctor, on television, from states away that we did not know to come up with some kind of diagnosis,” Nicole told Good Morning America.
Nicole has just celebrated the conclusion of treatment for a rare and extremely aggressive brain cancer, glioblastoma, so she wasted no time seeing a specialist. The doctor was correct, Nicole had thyroid cancer.
Nicole recently met Dr Voigt for the first time on Good Morning America.
“I'm going to try to say this without getting emotional,” Nicole said. “I have gone through a lot these last couple of years and never expected to have to be a cancer survivor twice, but without you keeping a vigilant eye and watching that television show, who knows how long I would have gone on without that being checked.”
This article originally appeared on Women's Health.
