“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.”
Medical issues can be difficult to diagnose and sometimes, conditions can go completely unnoticed — especially for people who have very hectic lives.
For some celebrities and television personalities, they had no idea anything was wrong until they were contacted by a concerned viewer. These fans, many of whom had medical training, saw something abnormal and decided they had to reach out. Thankfully, after their encouragement to see a doctor, these stars were diagnosed and got the help they needed.
Find out how fans helped save the lives of these celebrities…
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1. Tarek El Moussa
Back in 2013, a viewer was watching a marathon of Flip or Flop when she noticed something unusual about host Tarek El Moussa. The HGTV fan, a registered nurse Ryan Reade, said she saw a lump on Tarek’s neck and decided to reach out to the show’s producers.
“I noticed that at certain angles, at certain times, it just caught my eye that Tarek had a lump on his throat and I thought it was something that needed to be brought to his attention,” Ryan told TODAY.
Upon receiving her note, Tarek took Ryan’s advice to heart and got it checked out. It turns out that he’d been having throat issues for years but chalked it up to being a heavy smoker. After having a biopsy, it was revealed that he had Stage-2 thyroid cancer. Tarek went on to have his thyroid and lymph nodes removed and underwent iodine radiation treatment. The HGTV star is now in remission and extremely thankful to the eagle-eyed viewer.
I was getting people saying, ‘Your eye’s a little Jim Carrey that way.'”
2. Christian LeBlanc
The Young and the Restless star Christian LeBlanc recently revealed that he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2023 — and only discovered he had the disease thanks to some viewers. After several fans wrote in to tell him that his eye was looking “a little wonky,” Christian decided to see an eye doctor.
“The fans caught it,” he told New Orleans news station 4WWL. “I was getting people saying, ‘Your eye’s a little Jim Carrey that way.’”
Christian says he was also experiencing other symptoms like nose bleeds and weight loss so his eye doctor recommended he see a neurological specialist. It ended up being a tumor in his sinus cavity and after receiving treatment, he is now in remission.
3. Victoria Price
In 2020, Florida television reporter Victoria Price was diagnosed with cancer after a viewer recommended she get a lump on her neck checked out. After reading the fan’s email, Victoria’s boyfriend convinced her to see a doctor, who agreed the lump was concerning. An ultrasound revealed that a mass was growing on her thyroid — and it ended up being cancerous.
“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,” Victoria wrote on X.
Victoria went on to have surgery which was able to remove the cancerous tumor and has now recovered.
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4. Deborah Norville
In 2019, Inside Edition host Deborah Norville had to undergo surgery to remove a cancerous thyroid nodule — and she only caught the tumor because of a fan. Deborah says that a viewer reached out to her years ago about a lump on her throat and she immediately got it checked out by a doctor.
“We live in a world of see something, say something, and I’m really glad we do,” she shared in a YouTube video. “When you work on television, viewers comment on everything. Your hair, your makeup, the dress you’re wearing. And a long time ago an Inside Edition viewer reached out to say she’d seen something on my neck. It was a lump.”
While the lump was benign at first, it eventually grew cancerous and Deborah ended up needing surgery to remove most of her thyroid. She has since recovered and is doing well.
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5. Piers Morgan
Back in 2017, Piers Morgan was hosting a documentary about serial killers when a viewer noticed a lesion on Piers’ chest. The viewer, who happened to be a melanoma expert, reached out to Piers, who immediately got it checked out.
“Piers, at the risk of sounding like a lunatic, I’m just watching your program and there’s a blemish visible on your chest. Have you had it checked?” the email to Piers read.
Piers then had a dermatologist remove the blemish, which thankfully wasn’t cancerous.
“Much further delay, he informed me, and it might well have turned cancerous. Give that lady a gold star! Oh the irony of a serial killer inadvertently helping to save my life,” Piers later said.
6. Mark Lawrenson
British soccer commentator Mark Lawrenson credits a fan with helping to diagnose cancerous blemish on his face. He says he received an email from a concerned viewer who said they had seen him on television and noticed a bit of dark skin on the left side of his face. Mark says he was already aware of the blemish but had been putting off going to the doctor.
“I was already aware of the blemish and was planning to get an appointment about it but, like a typical 60-year-old bloke, I had been putting it off rather than sorting it out,” Mark wrote in an article for BBC. “That email was the kick up the backside I needed. I went to get it looked at immediately, and it was cancerous so I had it whipped out straight away.”
While he had to undergo one further procedure, the cancer thankfully hadn’t spread and he has now recovered.
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