A US woman’s search for answers about her health took an unexpected turn after she used ChatGPT for help, ultimately leading to a shocking cancer diagnosis.
Lauren Bannon sought medical advice after she was concerned by the stiffness in her fingers since February 2024. Despite testing negative, doctors initially diagnosed her with rheumatoid arthritis. She later experienced intense stomach pains, resulting in her losing a stone (6.35kg) in just four weeks – something that doctors attributed to acid reflux.
Unconvinced, she turned to Chat GPT and listed her symptoms. The AI bot suggested that she might have Hashimoto’s disease.
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Hashimoto’s disease is an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the thyroid gland, leading to inflammation and eventual underactivity. Despite her doctor’s hesitation, Lauren Bannon pushed for a thyroid test in September and was shocked to find that the AI bot 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 says that she would never have discovered the cancer without ChatGPT’s assistance, and credits it for saving her life.
“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,” the mother-of-two said.
“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’,” Lauren recalled.
“The doctor said I was very lucky to have caught it so early. I know for sure that cancer would’ve spread without using ChatGPT. It saved my life. I just knew that something was wrong with me. I would’ve never discovered this without ChatGPT,” she said, The Sun reported.
Lauren said that she would have taken the rheumatoid arthritis medicine given to her if she hadn’t been made aware of the condition by ChatGPT. “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,” she added.
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.
