Nicole McGuinness’s dream was to buy a house on the beach in South Carolina and after successfully beating brain cancer, it was time to make her dream a reality, and her quest to find her new home wound up saving her life.
To help the North Carolina resident with her search for that perfect beach house, she made an appearance on HGTV’s "Beachfront Bargain Hunt."
On the TV show, McGuinness, 32, looked happy and healthy as she began her search in South Carolina with the help of her dad, but was unaware that a serious health problem was lurking.
When McGuinness' episode of the show aired, Dr. Erich Voigt, an ear, nose and throat surgeon at NYU Langone Health, happened to be watching. He noticed a small lump on McGuinness’ throat.
"I felt obliged to let this person know,” he told Inside Edition. "They may not know they have something."
So on May 5, Dr. Voigt decided to track down McGuinness via social media, using Facebook to share a portion of the show in hopes that he would be able to connect with her.
More than 7,000 views later, the post finally reached McGuinness, who took Dr. Voigt’s advice and saw a doctor.
On Friday, her biopsy results came back, and she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
"Awesome power of Facebook and good people!" Dr. Voigt said in a follow-up post.
Inside Edition brought the two together so McGuinness could personally thank Dr. Voigt.
“You have no idea how much you’ve impacted my life,” she told him.
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