Nicole McGuiness just wanted to buy a beachfront vacation home. What she got was a new lease on life. (And also, yes, a beachfront fixer upper in North Carolina.)
The “Beachfront Bargain Hunt: Renovation” buyer is now incredibly the second HGTV subject to have her life saved by a viewer noticing a suspicious lump in an on-camera personality’s throat.
They say TV rots your brain, but HGTV protects your throat.
The first one, lest you forget, was “Flip or Flop” star Tarek El Moussa.
That time a registered nurse noticed something in his throat while watching an episode of Tarek and now-ex-wife Christina El Moussa’s hit house-flipping show. The suspicious nodule turned out to be a cancerous tumor that had spread to his lymph nodes.
Tarek underwent surgery followed by radiation therapy to treat his throat cancer. Though he was unfortunately also diagnosed with testicular cancer two months later, Tarek is now cancer-free.
This time around, it was a head and neck doctor who caught McGuiness’ issue. The surgeon/viewer posted a photo of his armchair diagnosis to Facebook, which eventually made its way back to McGuiness. She then followed up with her own doctor and tested positive for thyroid cancer. The crushing news came after her three-year battle with a Stage 4 glioblastoma — a brain tumor.
Watch McGuiness and the eagle-eyed doctor meet for the first time Tuesday on “Good Morning America.” Speaking of “positive,” her upbeat attitude fits that bill, and we’re certainly pulling for Nicole.
HGTV did not immediately respond to TheWrap‘s request for comment on this incredible story repeating itself. They should, because this is pretty cool stuff.