Anita Koszyk, who had part of her thyroid removed herself, was one of two viewers to warn Inside Edition anchor Deborah Norville.
Anita Koszyk was watching TV when she noticed something strange: a lump on the neck of Inside Edition anchor Deborah Norville.
Koszyk, a retired special education teacher, was worried it might be something malign, having recently undergone surgery to remove part of her own thyroid after her doctor noticed something similar.
"After the surgery I became a little more aware of people's neck characteristics and I noticed when I was watching Deborah Norville on TV, I saw that she seemed to have a nodule on her neck," Koszyk, who was living in Chicago at the time but lives on Daniel Island in South Carolina, told Inside Edition.
"I reached out to her ... I said maybe she wanted to have that checked out."
Koszyk was one of two viewers who reached out to Deborah with the same concerns. Retired nurse Gwen MacDonald, who lives in Los Angeles, also wrote in to raise a red flag Deborah.
"I noticed there was a swelling," said MacDonald. "It just didn't look right."
And Deborah is thankful they did. On Tuesday, she underwent surgery to have a cancerous thyroid nodule removed and is recovering well.
Deborah first went to the doctor when the women reached out years ago. At the time it was nothing, but Deborah has continued to get the lump looked at ever since.
"For years, it was nothing. Until recently," she told Inside Edition viewers in a message Monday, ahead of the surgery. "It was something."
She continued: "The doctor says it's a very localized form of cancer. ... There will be no chemo, I'm told no radiation, but I will have surgery and I'll be away for a bit."
A picture shared Tuesday showed Deborah smiling after the surgery.
"I have always been hugely grateful to those folks who took the time to do so simply because they were good people who cared," said Deborah.
For her part, Koszyk is glad she said something when she did. "It makes me feel like maybe I did a good deed," she said.
If you're worried about your own thyroid, Koszyk recommended looking in the mirror to see if anything's protruding from the throat area. "If people have any concerns, if they see any irregularities in their neck, they should see their doctors," she said.
"If you suspect something, don't be afraid. Go have it checked," added MacDonald.
Asked if they had a message for Deborah, MacDonald said, "The world is giving her best wishes and I give her the same."
Koszyk added: "Hugs to you, please let us know how you're doing. There's so many people who really care about you, Deborah."
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