Without the Apple Watch, Imani may not have temporarily survived a rare illness, her mother said. Photography: Chuk Nowak
“It’s really weird because it’s never happened before,” Kitchen said. “It just kept ringing.”
Concerned, Kitchen took her daughter to the hospital, where doctors removed Imani’s appendix as a treatment for appendicitis. That’s when they learned she had a neuroendocrine tumor in her appendix, very rare in children.
“If [the watch] doesn’t ring, I’ll probably just wait and do nothing for the next few days,” Kitchen said. Her initial feeling was gratitude because the watch alerted her to Imani’s condition before it was too late.
When doctors discovered Imani’s tumor, the cancer had spread to other parts of her body, requiring her to undergo surgery to remove it.
Imani’s surgery at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital was a success, removing the cancer that had developed, and she was recovering at home at the time of the interview.
“It could have been worse if she didn’t have that watch,” Kitchen told the Detroit Times.
In July, the Apple Watch also helped doctors spot a rare tumor in a woman’s heart after she received multiple warnings that her heart was in atrial fibrillation.