Newsreader discovers cancer after viewer spots unusual lump on neck

A news reporter has shared the unusual way in which she discovered she has a cancer tumour: through a viewer spying a lump on her neck.

Victoria Price, a Florida-based news reporter, has taken to social media to share the unusual way in which she discovered she has a cancer tumour.

A viewer spotted a lump on Victoria's neck on TV and emailed in to say the lump looked a lot like her own, which was cancerous.

In the post shared on Instagram, Victoria admitted that due to the rolling coverage of coronavirus making her work life hectic, she'd neglected to check in on her own health a little.

'As a journalist, it's been full throttle since the pandemic began,' she captioned a selfie showing the lump, and a screenshot of the email the viewer had sent.

'Never-ending shifts in a never-ending news cycle. 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...,' she wrote.

Victoria then explained that it wasn't until a viewer had spotted it, that she noticed the lump herself.

'Until a viewer emailed me last month,' she continued. 'She saw a lump on my neck. Said it reminded her of her own. Hers was cancer. Turns out, mine is too.

'COVID created some diagnostic delays but I'll finally be undergoing surgery this Monday to remove the tumour, my thyroid, and a couple of the nearby lymph nodes. Doctor says it's spreading, but not too much, and we're hopeful this will be my first and last procedure."

The TV journalist expressed her gratitude to the viewer, adding, '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. I will forever be thankful 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?'

Victoria has since said that she has been seen by a brilliant medical team at Tampa General Hospital in Florida. She revealed some good post-surgery news in her latest Instagram post, writing, 'Pre-op biopsy revealed the cancer didn’t spread to outer lying lymph nodes. so we only had to remove the ones closest to my thyroid.'

The journalist joked in her hospital bed selfie that, 'popsicles are now my new best friend.'

She added the hashtag #CheckYourNeck to the post, reminding others not to neglect their own regular check-ups, even when life gets hectic.