An Israeli woman is crediting 'Grey's Anatomy' with saving her life after an episode of the medical drama prompted her to seek a second opinion about a lump in her breast.
Two years ago, Sarit Fishbaine visited a breast specialist to get a check-up. The doctor told her that she had “lumpy breasts,” but assured her that she “had nothing to worry about.”
“I was 34 years old, healthy and nursing my third child -- any lumpiness, [the doctor] said, was probably due to milk collecting in one area of the breast and the issue would likely subside once I stopped nursing,” Fishbaine told Yahoo! News.
Posted by Sarit Fishbaine on Thursday, February 5, 2015
Six months later, however, after she had stopped breastfeeding, a lump in Fishbaine’s left breast did not go away. She initially dismissed it as nothing, but warning bells sounded after she caught an episode of “Grey’s Anatomy.”
“In the episode, a young mom arrives at Seattle Grace Hospital for a mastectomy after her breast cancer had been mistaken for milk collecting in her breast. I couldn’t fall asleep that night -- it felt like a huge warning sign,” she told Yahoo!
The very next day, Fishbaine made an appointment to see another breast specialist.
This time, the doctor sent her for an “urgent mammogram and biopsy.” It was soon discovered that Fishbaine had Stage 3 breast cancer, which had spread to her lymph nodes.
"I started six months of chemo right away and after that I had surgery, I had a mastectomy and then I had radiation therapy so I got the full package," Fishbaine told NBC News. "I love 'Grey's Anatomy' and I love watching TV and I think God works in mysterious ways and that watching that TV show was probably my sign."
Fishbaine, who lives in Kvutzat Yavne, a religious kibbutz in Israel, is now cancer-free. She says she’s getting reconstructive surgery and working to “rebuild” her life.
On May 16, Shonda Rhimes, the director, producer and screenwriter of “Grey’s Anatomy,” shared Fishbaine’s story on Facebook.
“Humbling,” Rhimes wrote.
Humbling...
Posted by Shonda Rhimes on Friday, May 15, 2015
Fishbaine isn't the first in her family to have a story go viral. As The Times of Israel points out, Fishbaine's dad -- Sydney Engelberg, a professor who teaches at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem -- won the hearts of netizens earlier this month after a photograph surfaced of him holding a baby during a lecture.
“Dad, you’re the best!” Fishbaine wrote on her Facebook page at the time, per a Times translation.
המקום - אוניברסיטה ידועה בירושלים.הקורס - התנהגות ארגונית.המרצה - ד"ר סידני אנגלברג. הארוע - בנה התינוק של אחת הסטודנ...
Posted by Sarit Fishbaine on Sunday, May 10, 2015
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