'I'll be strong': NC woman diagnosed with cancer after HGTV show undergoing treatment in Raleigh

Dr. Erich Voigt, an ear, nose and throat specialist in New York, saw Nicole McGuinness, 31, of Morehead City, on an episode of the HGTV show "Beachfront Bargain Hunt" and noticed a small bump on the side of her throat.

Voigt used Facebook and a clip of the show to track her down and advised her to go to the doctor. McGuinness says she learned she has thyroid cancer.

"I'm just blessed. There was a reason I did that HGTV show, and that might be because Dr. Voigt from NYU needed to see the lump on my throat," she said.

NC woman diagnosed with cancer after doctor notices lump while watching her on HGTV

"When I saw her on TV and I saw the way her neck moved when she was swallowing and when she was speaking, I knew that there was something going on there," Voigt said.

McGuiness said she does not have Facebook, but one of her parents' friends saw the post, took a screenshot of it, then sent it.

That post led her to Duke Health in Raleigh, and to a thyroid cancer diagnosis.

McGuiness previously battled brain cancer.

"It's so sad. It's gut wrenching. She's my hero. She's my daughter," her father, Michael McGuiness, said. "She's the toughest human being I've ever met in my life, and I've spent 30 years around the Marine Corps."

Nicole McGuinness knows, after handling brain cancer, she can handle anything.

"I think I'll be strong. I think that I'll carry on and hope to even offer some inspiration to folks who are in similar circumstances," she said.

She will have surgery next month to remove at least part of her thyroid.