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.