Charles Barkhouse was simply carrying out his duties as a tour guide on a small island when a member of his tour group approached him with an unusual request. Barkhouse recounted that a woman came up to him at the end of his regular Saturday tour, and while he anticipated a question about history, she instead identified herself as a doctor and asked if she could examine his neck.
After palpating the left side of his neck, the historian, who works on Oak Island, Nova Scotia, said the physician told him to 'call your doctor immediately.' He wrote on Facebook about the chance encounter in September 2025: 'She felt the left side of my neck and advised me to contact my doctor immediately. I regret not getting her contact information to thank her, considering the chain of events that followed.'
The following Monday, he contacted his doctor, who ordered tests and referred him to a specialist. After seeing an ear, nose, and throat doctor at the Victoria General Hospital in Halifax, Barkhouse was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. He said: 'The tests showed that I had thyroid cancer. Anytime you hear that word, it’s scary. However, thyroid cancer has one of the best treatment and recovery rates of all the various types of cancer.'
Thyroid cancer is projected to affect 45,240 Americans in 2026, representing about two percent of all new cancers. Approximately 2,320 people are expected to die from the disease. On December 31, 2025, Barkhouse underwent surgery. He told CTV News that doctors removed the cancer along with 40 lymph nodes, 23 of which were cancerous.
Further testing revealed that Barkhouse specifically had medullary thyroid cancer, a rare and aggressive form that can eventually spread to the lungs and liver and become fatal if left untreated too long. Overall, thyroid cancer has a 98 percent five-year survival rate. Medullary thyroid cancer accounts for about four to ten percent of all thyroid cancers, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
His doctors believe they removed all the cancer from his body, Barkhouse added. He wrote: 'I feel great, and I’m looking forward to the rest of my life. I will require regular check-ups and testing.' Barkhouse never exchanged contact information with the doctor from his tour but considers her his 'guardian angel' and wishes he could thank her.
He wrote on Facebook: 'I truly believe that that doctor was on the tour that day for a reason, whether it was fate, destiny, or serendipity. I’ve always believed that things happen for a reason; people enter your life, even for a short time. Often, you can’t figure out why those events occur, but this time it’s obvious to me. That doctor is my Guardian Angel.' Barkhouse added to CTV News: 'Everything lined up. It was like a perfect storm that day. She was in the right place at the right time and I wish she was here right now. I would thank her because I am telling you, she probably saved my life.'
Posting his story on social media, Barkhouse aimed to raise awareness about early cancer detection. Like Barkhouse, about 75 to 95 percent of thyroid cancer patients experience a lump on the thyroid gland, and 70 percent have swollen lymph nodes in the neck. The cancer can also cause hoarseness, breathing difficulties, and trouble swallowing. In people with MTC, the cancer often goes undiagnosed for some time because the tumor remains very small.
MTC has an unknown cause in about 75 percent of cases, meaning they occur in people with no family history. In about half of these cases, patients have an acquired genetic mutation. In about 25 percent of MTC patients, they have an inherited condition that raises their risk. Thyroid cancer is treated with total removal of the thyroid gland, which regulates metabolism, energy use, heart rate, body temperature, and growth. Surgery is sometimes followed by radiation and chemotherapy, and patients take medications to maintain the hormone functions the thyroid normally carries out.
