A television reporter in Florida has thanked a viewer who alerted her to a cancerous growth on her neck, prompting her to seek treatment. Victoria Price, a journalist with WFLA in Tampa, received an email from a viewer who noticed a lump on her neck during broadcasts.
The viewer, who had previously been diagnosed with cancer herself, urged Price to get the lump checked. Upon visiting her doctor, Price learned that the growth was cancerous and that it had been spreading from the centre of her neck. She is scheduled to undergo surgery on Monday to remove the tumour, along with her thyroid and some lymph nodes.
Price admitted that her intense coverage of the coronavirus pandemic had caused her to neglect her own health. 'As a journalist, it's been full throttle since the pandemic began. Never-ending shifts in a never-ending news cycle. We were covering the most important health story in a century, but my own health was the farthest thing from my mind,' she wrote in an article for WFLA.
Thyroid cancer is more common in women, with roughly 75% of cases in the US this year affecting women. Price encouraged others to check their necks regularly. She expects to return to work in a week.
This is not the first instance of a viewer providing critical medical advice. In 2018, former Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson credited a doctor who diagnosed his cancer after seeing him on BBC One's Football Focus. Similarly, in 2013, Tarek El Moussa was alerted to a lump on his neck by a nurse who watched him on the show Flip or Flop.
