Viewer Notices Lump on TV Journalist's Neck That Ends Up Being Cancer

Cancer isn’t always easy to spot just by looking at someone. However, thanks to a particularly observant viewer, that’s exactly what led to one TV journalist’s cancer diagnosis.

“Inside Edition” host Deborah Norville announced on the show Monday that she would be undergoing surgery the next day on a thyroid nodule that had become cancerous. She explained that she first became aware of the nodule after a viewer reached out, concerned about it.

Norville said:

We live in a world of see something, say something, and I’m really glad we do. 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.

Well, I’d never noticed the thing, but I did have it checked out and the doctor said it was nothing, a thyroid nodule. For years, it was nothing. Until recently, it was something.

Norville said she only needs surgery to remove the nodule, not radiation or chemotherapy.

“If you believe in prayer, please say one for me and for my surgeon, and I thank you very much,” she said.

You can watch Norville’s video here:

A similarly eagle-eyed viewer helped “Flip or Flop” host Tarek El Moussa discover his thyroid cancer in 2013. Viewer Ryan Reade, a registered nurse, noticed a lump on El Moussa’s next while she was watching the show, and reached out to the producers to encourage him to get it checked out. He did, and it ended up being stage 2 thyroid cancer.

“I noticed that at certain angles, at certain times, it just caught my eye that Tarek had a lump on his throat,” Reade told “The Today Show,” “and I thought it was something that needed to be brought to his attention.”

Thyroid cancer often presents as a lump in the neck and often doesn’t cause any symptoms. Thyroid blood tests are usually normal. Treatment for thyroid cancer is usually surgery and for some people, radioactive iodine therapy. The American Thyroid Association recommends making sure your doctor examines your neck as part of your regular check-ups.