A Florida TV news reporter has expressed sincere gratitude for a particularly observant viewer who recommended she have a lump on her neck checked out by a doctor, resulting in a shocking cancer diagnosis.
According to NBC News , Victoria Price, a reporter for WFLA-TV in Tampa, was alerted to the concerning growth by a watchful viewer who encouraged her to seek medical attention attention.
RELATED STORIES
On July 23, Price shared the news of her diagnosis on Twitter and revealed it was all thanks to “wonderful WFLA viewers.”
That post was then shared by the station’s official Twitter account along with the message, “Our WFLA family is sending all of our love to @WFLAVictoria and wishing her a speedy recovery.”
Just one day later, Price took to her Instagram to explain the full story of how one eagle-eyed viewer potentially helped save her life.
“‘8 On Your Side’ isn’t just a catchphrase at @wfla. It’s our cornerstone,” she began the post . “But the roles recently reversed when I found a viewer on MY side, and I couldn’t be more grateful.”
As Price explained, she’s been so busy covering the ongoing coronavirus pandemic for the station that she’s neglected to focus on her own health.
That is, until last month when one of WFLA’s viewers emailed Price to alert her to the worrisome growth the woman had spotted on her neck:
“Hi, just saw your news report. What concerned me is the lump on your neck. Please have your thyroid checked. Reminds me of my neck. Mine turned out to be cancer. Take care of [yourself].”
Price actually listened to the concerned viewer and went to have the lump checked by a doctor who then delivered some shocking news.
As it turns out, the lump is, indeed, cancerous and is located right in the middle of Price’s thyroid, pushing on the gland and causing a “subtle protrusion.”
“I’ll finally be undergoing surgery this Monday to remove the tumor, my thyroid, and a couple of the nearby lymph nodes,” Price explained in the post , adding that although doctors say it’s spreading, they’re optimistic they’ve caught it before it spread “too much.”
The reporter is understandably grateful for the woman who actually took the time to alert to the concerning growth and encourage she have it checked out.
“Had I never received that email, I never would have called my doctor,” she said. “The cancer would have continued to spread. It’s a scary and humbling thought.”
“I will forever be thankful to the woman who went out of her way to email me, a total stranger,” Price continued. “She had zero obligation to, but she did anyway. Talk about being on your side, huh?”
This isn’t the first time a TV personality had a viewer to thank for catching a concerning health problem they hadn’t yet noticed themselves.
In 2013, Tarek El Moussa , host of the HGTV reality show Flip or Flop , was alerted to a lump on his own neck after a registered nurse noticed the growth while watching a marathon of the program.
A heavy smoker, El Moussa had dismissed the lump as fatty tissue for years, but biopsy results revealed the lump and his smoker’s cough were both symptoms of Stage-2 thyroid cancer, as well as testicular cancer. In 2019 he was officially declared cancer-free .
h/t: NBC News
