LESSON WAS A LIFESAVER
Class demo detects med student’s cancer
A cancer-exam simulation became a frightening reality for one med student.
Gabriella Barboza, 22, a third-year medical student in Sao Paulo, discovered she had neck cancer two years ago — during a lesson on diagnosing cancerous growths.
“When I found out, my world collapsed,” Barboza told Newsflash.
She said her teacher, Dr. Daniel Lichtenthaler, had called on her to help him demonstrate the proper method of examining patients for neck tumors.
But during the demonstration, the professor discovered actual cancer symptoms and advised Barboza to get checked out.
Barboza sought confirmation and received the earth-shattering news: She had a form of thyroid cancer called papillary thyroid carcinoma, also known as PTC.
Common & curable
PTC is the most common type of thyroid cancer, constituting about 80% of cases. It affects around 200,000 Americans each year, mostly ages 30 to 50, and more commonly women, according to the National Cancer Institute.
PTC is also the most prevalent cancer in women under 25, according the Columbia Thyroid Center in New York City.
Barboza was devastated by the diagnosis.
“I kept thinking, ‘I’m too young to face this.’ I cried a lot and didn’t want to believe it. It’s a moment when you see things can end,” she said.
Barboza initially exhibited no signs of PTC, but by the time she was diagnosed, the cancer had metastasized to other parts of her neck, including her esophagus.
Still, Barboza is grateful that her teacher caught the cancer.
“I think if I hadn’t gone that day, maybe I wouldn’t have discovered the disease so soon, my diagnosis would have taken much longer and it could have been more serious,” she said.
Due to PTC’s high recovery rate, doctors were confiBarboza dent could beat the disease.
She underthe went first stage of treatNovemin ment in ber 2020 Sao Paulo, where surremoved geons her thyroid
along with the outlying neck tumors.
They followed up in January 2020 by administering iodine therapy, in which doctors use radioactive isotopes to kill remaining cancer cells.
Barboza was deemed cured in 2021 and now undergoes biannual checkups to ensure there’s no recurrence.
Lichtenthaler said, “Once I learned the treatment had been successful, I was very happy.”
Barboza celebrated her recovery in an Instagram post.
“After months of struggle, I want to record this remarkable moment in my life, which has made me a better person and has made me see the world in a different way,” she wrote in Portuguese.
“I always wanted to be a doctor to take care of others and heal people, regardless of speciality. But after what I went through as a patient, I think my perspective has changed.”