ChatGPT is becoming the new ‘Google’ as many people routinely use the AI chatbot for seeking information and improving productivity. In some cases, it can even act as a lifesaver by making accurate diagnoses, as seen in the case of 27-year-old Marly Garnreiter. Least expecting a deadly disease like cancer, Marly initially believed her symptoms were rooted in grief and anxiety after losing her father. Here’s what happened.
ChatGPT is fast emerging as a valuable tool in medicine and is able to make diagnoses that at times even medical professionals may miss. A small study published in JAMA Network Open found that AI chatbots outperformed doctors in diagnosing illnesses. Recently, a 27-year-old received a heartbreaking diagnosis by ChatGPT after she explained her symptoms that she thought were due to anxiety and grief.
Marly’s struggles with grief
Marly Garnreiter, 27, was experiencing symptoms that she thought was due to anxiety and grief due to the loss of her father Victor, 58 to colon cancer, for over a year. When she asked ChatGPT for a diagnosis, the AI chatbot suggested it could be blood cancer, however, Marly ignored the diagnosis. However, when she constantly felt fatigued and experienced chest pressure, she visited her doctor who conducted a scan and a mass on her left lung was discovered and she was subsequently diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Her symptoms explained
Marly suffered from sudden weight loss without any changes in her diet, experienced night sweats that left her completely soaked, and very itchy skin. She thought all this was happening due to anxiety and grief due to her father Victor’s death to colon cancer.
The heartbreaking diagnosis
While Marly chose to ignore the ChatGPT diagnosis, she decided to seek medical help after experiencing fatigue and chest pressure. Fatigued and experiencing chest pressure, she decided to visit her GP, which led to the devastating diagnosis.
Marly has started chemotherapy treatment and is taking everything “step by step”.
“I started to lose a lot of weight when he’d just passed away. I kept eating normal amounts of food but I thought it must be the anxiety making me lost a lot of weight.
“I’d accepted you lose weight with grief. I was having night sweats and itchy skin. Again I thought it was anxiety,” Marly, a strategist from Paris, France was quoted as saying in a Mirror report.
Her story
Marly’s father was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2022 and he died in January 2024. Her symptoms began soon after his death. However, all her blood tests came back normal, and her doctors agreed that the symptoms could be due to grief. When the symptoms didn’t improve with time, Marley suspected it could be something else.
“I felt I was processing the grief well. I thought it must be something. In May I sent a video to my friends – I had asked Chat GPT and it said I had blood cancer. I ignored it. We were all sceptical and were told to only consult real doctors,” she said.
“Around Christmas time I started to feel something was wrong. I had a constant pain in my chest. I was tired all the time,” she said, and decided to consult the doctor in January.
After a huge mass was found on her left lung and she was referred to a pulmonologist, a biopsy revealed Marly had cancer.
“I felt a lot of anger. I felt like everything was unfair. I didn’t want my family to go through this one more time,” she said.
She is set to take 4-6 rounds of chemo and before the treatment she has managed to retrieve some eggs for freezing.
Hoping for a better future
“I’m feeling confident for the future. It’s really important to listen to our bodies. Sometimes we tend to lose our connection with our inner self. It’s important to be in tune,” said Marley.
While ChatGPT can at times help with diagnosis, it is important to consult a medical specialist and make proper diagnosis.