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When Lauren Bannon noticed she was having trouble bending her fingers, she turned to ChatGPT for answers and was shocked by what the AI bot told her.
The mother-of-two from North Carolina, 40, had always been diligent with her yearly medical checkups, but in February 2024, she became concerned when she had difficulty moving her fingers.
Doctors diagnosed with her with rheumatoid arthritis in May 2024 – an autoimmune disease that primarily affects the joints, causing pain, swelling and stiffness.
But her misery continued and four months later, she developed excruciating stomach pains and lost 14lbs without trying, but doctors couldn’t find a cause.
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Frustrated with a lack of answers, Bannon turned to AI service ChatGPT for help.
Within seconds, she discovered she was possibly suffering from Hashimoto’s disease – a different autoimmune disease that attacks the thyroid.
After convincing doctors to test her, it turned out the AI system was correct – but further testing revealed something even more sinister.
Bannon had two tumors in her neck that turned out to be cancerous and she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in October 2024.
Lauren Bannon, 40, began to grow concerned after noticing that she was struggling to bend her fingers properly at night
Since her life-changing diagnosis and surgery, the mother credits Chat GPT for helping save her life
The marketing company CEO said in a Facebook post: ‘I was exhausted, in pain and constantly being given new diagnoses but every test came back normal.’
When a battery of tests came up empty and doctors kept dismissing her symptoms as acid reflux, Bannon decided to turn to ChatGPT for help.
She recalled: ‘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 ChatGPT. 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 [because] there was no family history of it, but I said “just amuse me.”‘
Bannon did not have the typical symptoms of Hashimoto’s disease, which include tiredness, dry and brittle hair, puffy eyes and face, slight weight gain, memory problems and decreased libido – making her diagnosis a surprise.
However, the disease can also cause joint pain, swelling and muscle aches, which would have made it difficult for her to bend her fingers.
But these particular symptoms are also present in rheumatoid arthritis, leading to Bannon’s initial misdiagnosis.
Hashimoto’s disease occurs in about five in 100 people and it hinders the thyroid’s ability to produce hormones that are responsible for regulating metabolism and other bodily functions
This can lead to hypothyroidism or an underactive thyroid. If left untreated, hypothyroidism can lead to serious health problems, including heart disease, depression and impaired fertility.
According to the American Thyroid Association, there is no link between Hashimoto’s disease and thyroid cancer, indicating Bannon’s two conditions are unrelated aside from the fact that the Hashimoto’s diagnosis led to an ultrasound of her thyroid.
Once she discovered that she may have Hashimoto’s, the business owner insisted she be tested for the condition, despite reservations from doctors
In January 2025, she underwent a surgery to remove her thyroid, the cancerous tumors and two lymph nodes from her neck
Due to not presenting with ‘typical’ symptoms of Hashimoto’s, Bannon believes the condition and her subsequent cancer diagnosis would have remained undetected without the help of ChatGPT.
She 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 ChatGPT, I would’ve just taken the rheumatoid arthritis medication and the cancer would’ve spread from my neck to everywhere else.
Hashimoto’s is treated with thyroid hormone replacement therapy and thyroid cancer treatment includes surgeries and radiation therapy.
In January 2025, she underwent a surgery to remove her thyroid, the cancerous tumors and two lymph nodes from her neck. It is not known whether she received additional treatments.
She now needs to remain under lifelong monitoring to ensure the cancer does not return due to having the BRAF V600E mutation – a common mutation found in cancers that causes increased cell growth, contributing to tumor development.
Since her life-changing diagnosis, the mother credits ChatGPT for helping save her life.
Bannon said : ‘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. All my tests were perfect.’
She continued: ‘I would encourage others to use ChatGPT 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.’