Emily O’ Carroll is quite comfortable performing in front of an audience. As a fitness teacher for Jazzercise, she is also used to hearing criticism from her audience, whether it is positive or negative. But the comments weren’t anything she expected.

Nobody was commenting on her workouts, how much weight she lost, or the outfits she wore. They were discussing the length of her neck! They brought her attention to a lump and advised that she have a thyroid specialist examine it.

When Emily arrived at her house later that day, she examined her appearance in the mirror and made the decision to heed their recommendations.

Emily decided it would be wise to seek medical advice in order to ascertain that there was nothing for which she should be concerned. But the news she got was a complete and utter surprise. Emily did, in fact, suffer from a medical issue, as her audience correctly surmised.

Her condition was determined to be Hashimoto’s by the medical staff.

Her own immune system is attacking itself since she has Hashimoto’s disease. It also leads to weariness, weight gain, and the formation of large lumps on the neck. She felt grateful to her audience and was able to get the medical attention she required to control her autoimmune illness.

“It served as a constant and obvious reminder of the Hashimoto’s condition that I had. “Every time it would drain, it would refill, and I would have to make an appointment with an endocrinologist,” she said.

She wishes to express her appreciation to the audience members who had the decency to comment on the large bump that was located on her neck.