A news reporter in Tampa Bay, Florida has revealed that she has cancer - after an eagle-eyed viewer spotted a symptom during a broadcast.
Victoria Price is an investigative journalist at WFLA News in Florida. She has shared the remarkable story of how a viewer came to spot a lump on her throat during a news report.
Taking to Twitter, Price detailed how she visited the doctor after the benevolent viewer emailed in to register their concern over a lump on the news reporter's neck, which reminded them of one that they had previously had. Theirs turned out to be cancer, and so they advised Price to get a doctor to check her thyroid.
"'8 on Your Side' isn't just a catchphrase at WFLA. It's our cornerstone. But the roles recently reversed when I found a viewer on MY side, and I couldn't be more grateful," Price wrote in a statement posted to Twitter.
"As a journalist, it's been full throttle since the pandemic began. Never-ending shifts in a never-ending news cycle," she continued. "Adjusting to remote workflows and in my case, taking on a new investigative role. We were covering the most important health story in a century, but my own health was the farthest thing from my mind."
"Until a viewer emailed me last month," Price went on. "She saw a lump on my neck. Said it reminded her of her own. Hers was cancer."
Price heeded the viewer's warning, and got her own lump checked out by a doctor. She discovered that she too had cancer. It turned out that the lump is protrusion as a result of a tumor pressing on her thyroid, she explained.
"Doctor says it's spreading, but not too much, and we're hopeful this will be my first and last procedure," Price said in her statement.
"Hi, just saw your news report. What concerned me is the lump on your neck," the viewer's email read, per a screenshot shared by Price. "Please have your thyroid checked. Reminds me of my neck. Mine turned out to be cancer. Take care of yourself."
"Had I never received that email, I never would have called my doctor. The cancer would have continued to spread. It's a scary and humbling thought," Price said. "I will forever be grateful to the woman who went out of her way to email me, a total stranger. She had zero obligation to, but she did anyway. Talk about being on your side, huh?"