Chat GPT 'saves mum's life' after helping uncover hidden cancer missed by doctors

Lauren Bannon grew concerned in February 2024 after noticing that she was struggling to bend her little fingers in the morning and evening.

After four months, the 40-year-old was told by doctors she had rheumatoid arthritis despite testing negative for the condition. The mum-of-two then began experiencing excruciating stomach pains - losing a stone in just four weeks in September 2024, which doctors put down to acid reflux.

Desperate to discover what was happening to her body, later that month the business owner disclosed her symptoms to AI messaging service Chat GPT, which said she may have Hasimoto's disease. It's an autoimmune condition where the body's immune system mistakenly attacks the thyroid gland, causing it to become inflamed and eventually underactive.

Despite reservations from her doctor, Lauren insisted she be tested for the condition in September and was shocked to discover that Chat GPT was correct. This prompted doctors to carry out scans of Lauren's thyroid, and discover two small lumps in her neck that were confirmed as cancer in October 2024.

Lauren, who owns a marketing company, said she would never have found the hidden cancer without the help of Chat GPT - which she credits for helping save her life. Lauren, from Newry, Northern Ireland, but now living between the US Virgin Islands and Wilmington, North Carolina, US, said: 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. So that's when I pulled up Chat GPT. I already used it 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. So I went to my doctors and she told me I couldn't have that, there was no family history of it but I said just amuse me.

After a positive test for Hashimoto's disease, Lauren underwent an ultrasound of her thyroid where doctors discovered two cancerous lumps in her neck. In January 2025, Lauren underwent an operation to remove her thyroid and two lymph nodes from her neck but remains under life-long monitoring to ensure the cancer doesn't return.

Due to not presenting with typical symptoms of Hashimoto's disease, Lauren believes the condition, and subsequent cancer diagnosis, would have remained undetected without the help of Chat GPT. Lauren said: I didn't have the typical symptoms of Hashimoto's disease, I wasn't tired or feeling exhausted.

If I hadn't looked on Chat GPT, I would've just taken the rheumatoid arthritis medication and the cancer would've spread from my neck to everywhere else. The doctor said I was very lucky to have caught it so early. I know for sure that cancer would've spread without using Chat GPT.

It saved my life. I just knew that something was wrong with me. I would've never discovered this without Chap GPT. All my tests were perfect. I would encourage others to use Chat GPT with their health concerns, act with caution but if it gives you something to look into, ask your doctors to test you. It can't do any harm. I feel lucky to be alive.

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