Woman claims ChatGPT ‘saved her life’ after helping uncover hidden cancer missed by doctors
A mother-of-two has claimed that ChatGPT came to her rescue when it came to her cancer diagnosis.
Lauren Bannon started to worry about her health in February 2024 when she realised that she struggled to bend her little fingers in the morning and evening.
Despite testing negative for rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic autoimmune disease that affects the joints, doctors allegedly told her that she had the condition.
Soon after, the Northern Irish mum started to suffer from intense stomach pains, resulting in her losing a stone (6.35kg) in just four weeks - something that doctors attributed to acid reflux.
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Lauren had enough and decided to take matters into her own hands, sending her symptoms through the artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT.
From here, the 40-year-old appeared to be given an answer.
Lauren said the AI told her that she could have Hashimoto's disease, an autoimmune condition where the body's immune system mistakenly attacks the thyroid gland and can cause it to become inflamed and under-active.
This led to the mother asking to be tested for the condition in September, despite some push-back from her doctor.
Shockingly, Chat GPT's suggestion was correct, leading to further scans of her thyroid, which revealed that there were two small lumps in her neck and confirmed to be a cancer diagnosis in October.
Lauren says that she would never have discovered the cancer without ChatGPT's assistance, and credits it for saving her life.
The marketing company owner, who lives between the US Virgin Islands and Wilmington, North Carolina, USA, admitted: "I felt let down by doctors. It was almost like they were just trying to give out medication for anything to get you in and out the door.
"I needed to find out what was happening to me, I just felt so desperate. I just wasn't getting the answers I needed."
She said that this led to her asking ChatGPT, a programme that she already used for work.
"I started typing what mimics rheumatoid arthritis and it popped up saying 'you may have Hashimoto's disease, ask your doctor to check your thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPO) levels'," Lauren recalled.
While doctors apparently claimed that she wouldn't have that due to no family history of it, she simply said 'just amuse me'.
Her test results were followed by an ultrasound of her thyroid, where the two cancerous lumps were discovered.
The mother underwent an operation in January this year to remove her thyroid as well as the lymph nodes from her neck, and is now under life-long monitoring to make sure the cancer does not come back.
Lauren explained that the fact she wasn't displaying the expected symptoms of Hashimoto's disease meant that it could have gone unnoticed, if it weren't for the AI chatbot.
"I wasn't tired or feeling exhausted," she admitted.
Lauren said that she would have taken the rheumatoid arthritis medicine given to her if she hadn't been made aware of the condition by ChatGPT.
She added: "The doctor said I was very lucky to have caught it so early. I know for sure that cancer would've spread without using ChatGPT.
"It saved my life. I just knew that something was wrong with me. I would've never discovered this without ChatGPT. All my tests were perfect."
Lauren has urged others to use ChatGPT 'with caution' when it comes to any worries they may have, before asking doctors for further tests.
She concluded: "I feel lucky to be alive."
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week.
Topics: Artificial Intelligence, Health, Technology
Joshua Nair