Apple Watch Saves Woman’s Life After Prompting Discovery Of Rare, Deadly Tumor
Like many users, 67-year-old Kim Durkee got her Apple Watch to track her health and physical activity levels. She had her wearable customized with a Minnie Mouse watch face to fit her personality.
The watch seemed to be working in tandem with her until one night in May, when it woke Durkee up to alert her that her heart was in atrial fibrillation.
The following night, she received the same warning telling her that her heart was beating abnormally fast. The third night, her watch recorded an extremely high heart rate.
As the Maine woman didn’t experience any other symptoms, she was doubtful of the readings. However, she determined it was safer to check into an emergency room and chuck the watch later if it was proven to have given off false warnings.
It was good that she listened to her watch, as it was indeed a ticking time-bomb. Doctors at the Massachusetts General Hospital traced the atrial fibrillation to a myxoma—a rare, life-threatening tumor that blocks off blood supply to the heart.
As this tumor grows rapidly, it would have led to a stroke, or even a sudden cardiac death, if it remained undetected.
“It truly saved my life,” the woman tells CBS’s WBZ-TV.
Durkee eventually went for open-heart surgery on June 27, where it took doctors five hours to extract the 4cm (1.6”) growth from her body. She’d spend another 11 days at the hospital, and is now recovering at home.
Of course, this isn’t the first time an Apple Watch has saved someone’s life. In January, Apple launched a commercial showcasing real voice recordings of people who had dialed 911 from their Apple Watches in the midst of emergencies. One person’s car drove into water and flipped over. Another person fell off a ladder, while a third drifted far into the sea as strong winds carried their paddleboard across waters.
With a fever being one of the core symptoms of COVID-19, the upcoming Apple Watch is reported to include a built-in thermometer that would alert its wearer to see a doctor if it senses that they’re burning up.
[via CBS News and 9to5Mac, cover image via Jan Tuma / Pixabay (CC0)]
