The unexpected series of events began in June when a woman saw Price in the air and noticed a suspicious lump on her neck. The woman immediately sent him an email.
“Hello, I just saw your news report. What worries me is the lump on your neck. Please check your thyroid. It reminds me of my neck. Mine turned out to be cancer. Take care of yourself,” the woman wrote, putting all the text in the email subject line.
“My lovingly aggressive boyfriend, who is very aware of my predisposition to ignore things and pretend I’m invincible, forced a phone in my hand and called my primary care doctor to schedule an appointment,” she wrote.
Her doctor agreed that something was wrong and an ultrasound scan found a nodule growing on her thyroid. Price then saw cancer specialists at Tampa General Hospital and the viewer’s suspicions were confirmed: Price’s lump was thyroid cancer and was spreading to his lymph nodes.
“If I had never received that email, I would never have called my doctor. The cancer would have continued to spread. It is a terrifying and humiliating thought,” Price wrote. “I will always be grateful to the woman who did her best to email me, a total unknown. She had no obligation to do so, but she did it anyway.”
After revealing the news, Price said he would retire a week from work to undergo surgery. She plans to have a CT scan and biopsy of other lymph nodes to make sure the cancer has not spread.
“As a journalist, you have been at full speed since the pandemic began,” he said. “Endless changes in a never-ending news cycle. 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 furthest of my life mind. “
Price emailed the woman to thank her for what she did, but has yet to receive a response.
He ended his tweet by writing, “The world is a difficult place these days. Don’t forget to take care of yourself. Take care of each other. I love you and see you soon.”
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