Woman's life saved on honeymoon by stranger who spotted cancerous lump on her neck
Off-duty doctor in supermarket spots suspicious growth on 26-year-old's neck. It turns out to be thyroid cancer
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Your support makes all the difference.A newly-married woman’s life was saved during her honeymoon after a stranger in a supermarket spotted a cancerous lump on her neck.
Danielle McCulloch was on holiday in Cyprus just days after tying the knot with husband Matt when a doctor, out of the blue, told her to get the growth on her neck checked out.
Once back in the UK surgeons removed a 4cm-deep lump and told her it was a stage three thyroid cancer tumour that would have killed her.
“I’m so grateful to that doctor for telling me what she did because she could have saved my life,” said Ms McCulloch, speaking to the Peterborough Telegraph.
“No-one else had ever pointed the lump out before and I didn’t think it was anything to worry about. Without the push to get it checked out, it could have been a completely different story.”
The pair, who have two children aged nine and four, married and went on their honeymoon in Cyprus, where Ms McCulloch’s grandmother lives, in May 2015.
After meeting the doctor - who is her nan’s GP - in a shop on the island, Ms McCulloch saw her GP in Peterborough before being referred to a specialist for tests and a biopsy at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.
The cleaner, whose lump was removed with radioactive iodine treatment, will return to hospital for bi-annual check-ups.
Thyroid cancer includes swelling in the front of the neck, unexplained hoarseness that persists, a sore throat that does not get better, and difficulty swallowing.
Thyroid tumours, which are two to three times more likely in women than men, are not always cancer.
Ms McCulloch urged others to seek check-ups for unusual symptoms – no matter how trivial they appear.
“It only takes ten minutes and it could save your life,” she said.
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