Journalist Victoria Price discovers she has cancer after viewer spots a lump in her neck and advises her to check with her doctor. In the message, the viewer mentioned she had a similar lump which later turned out to be cancer.
A journalist working with WFLA News in Tampa Bay, Florida recently decided to go off work after she discovered she had cancer. The investigative journalist, Victoria Price, learnt she had cancer after a lump in her neck was pointed out by a viewer. Price said that as she joined her colleagues in covering the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic over the past several months, she wasn't thinking about her own health. The journalist shared a picture of the message she had received by the viewer.
"Hi, I just saw your news report. What concerned me is the lump on your neck. Please have your thyroid checked. Reminds me of my neck. Mine turned out to be cancer. Take care of yourself," the message by the viewer read.
This was the message received by investigative journalist Victoria Price after she announced she was going off work for some time.
Soon after the message was received, Victoria Price took to social media and said, "Turns out, I have cancer. And I owe it to one of our wonderful @WFLA viewers for bringing it to my attention. I’ll be off work for a bit after tomorrow, but I’ll see y’all soon." (sic).
"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," Victoria Price wrote in another social media message.
"'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.
"As a journalist, it's been full throttle since the pandemic began. Never-ending shifts in a never-ending news cycle," Price 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 said. "She saw a lump on my neck. Said it reminded her of her own. Hers was cancer."
Price heeded the viewer's observation and got the lump looked at, learning that her lump — which she explained in another tweet is a protrusion as a result of a tumor pressing on her thyroid — is also cancer.
Meanwhile, the Boston University alum said that she will be undergoing surgery on Monday to have the tumor and some lymph nodes removed.
"Doctor says it's spreading, but not too much, and we're hopeful this will be my first and last procedure," she said, adding in another tweet that chemotherapy currently "isn’t in the cards."
"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?"
Price concluded her statement by adding, "The world is a tough place these days. Don't forget to take care of yourself. Take care of each other."
