A woman is crediting a heat camera at the Camera Obscura & World of Illusions tourist attraction in Edinburgh, Scotland with saving her life. Bal Gill said the camera discovered a heat spot coming from her left breast, which inspired her to visit her doctor, who diagnosed her with breast cancer. In a statement released by the attraction, Gill said the camera “changed my life.”
According to a statement on the Camera Obscura website, Gill, 41, visited the attraction in May 2019. While visiting, she walked through the Thermal Camera attraction, which visitors can use to take a fun thermal image of themselves. Gill’s photo showed an unfamiliar heat patch coming from her chest.
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“As all families do, we entered and started to wave our arms and look at the images created,” Gill wrote. “While doing this I noticed a heat patch (red in colour) coming from my left breast. We thought it was odd and having looked at everyone else they didn’t have the same. I took a picture and we carried on and enjoyed the rest of the museum.”
When she returned home, Gill learned thermal imaging cameras are used by oncologists. The Slough, Berkshire resident then decided to visit her doctor, who gave her the diagnosis. Thankfully, they caught the cancer in its early stages and she has since had two surgeries to stop it from spreading.
“I just wanted to say thank you: without that camera, I would never have known,” Gill continued. “I know it’s not the intention of the camera but for me, it really was a life-changing visit. I cannot tell you enough about how my visit to the Camera Obscura changed my life.”
“We did not realise that our Thermal Camera had the potential to detect life-changing symptoms in this way,” Andrew Johnson, General Manager of Camera Obscura & World of Illusions, said. “We were really moved when Bal contacted us to share her story as breast cancer is very close to home for me and a number of our team. It’s amazing that Bal noticed the difference in the image and crucially acted on it promptly. We wish her all the best with her recovery and hope to meet her and her family in the future.”
Thermography is used by many breast cancer specialists as a non-invasive way of checking patients without radiation. It can be used because cancer cells grow very fast, causing higher blood flow and metabolism in a cancerous tumor. As blood flow and metabolism grows, skin temperature rises.
Camera Obscura shared the good news during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, about 268,600 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed among U.S. women in 2019. It is estimated that 41,760 women will die from the disease this year.
Photo credit: Glenn Asakawa/The Denver Post via Getty Images
