How Facebook Stalking Saves Lives
A British nurse named Nicola Sharp was clicking through her friend Michelle's Facebook photos when she came across a picture of Michelle's daughter and noticed a tell-tale sign of cancer. That's right: Wasting time on Facebook saves lives.
We all like to check up on our friends on Facebook every once in a while, and by "friends," I mean, "people we haven't seen since middle school," and by "every once in a while," I mean, "basically one-third of our waking hours." But did you know that rather than being a slightly creepy, voyeuristic way to increase your chance of heart disease, Facebook stalking could actually prevent cancer? Via Time:
Nicola Sharp, a 42-year-old nurse in England, was clicking through her friend Michelle Freeman's Facebook photos when an image of Michelle's daughter gave her reason to pause. In the photo, two-year-old Grace's eyes were lit up from the flash of the camera, but Sharp noticed that instead of the usual red-eye glint, one of the toddler's eyes was actually white.
Sharp, who has worked in pediatrics for decades, recognized immediately that the white reflection in Grace's eye could be sign of eye cancer. She immediately called Freeman about her suspicions. Little Grace was taken to the hospital where doctors found two tumors and diagnosed her with retinoblastoma.
The doctors also told Freeman that if the cancer had spread, it could have been fatal.
Did Mark Zuckerberg just save that baby's life? Basically! Also, I think your ex-boyfriend might have cancer. It wouldn't hurt to check!