Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)A GUARDIAN Angel literally saved a Spanish woman, when she diagnosed her with a rare disease on a bus.
Montse Ventura, 55, met the total stranger – who turned out to be a doctor – on the number 64 bus in the centre of Barcelona.
After sitting next to her for a number of stops, the doctor warned her that she may have a tumour.
60-year-old endocrinologist Maria Gloria Prat noticed that Ventura had unusually shaped hands, which led her to the diagnosis.
Maria Gloria Prat noticed that Ventura had unusually shaped hands, which led her to the diagnosis.
Ventura revealed: “She wrote something down and said: ‘Have the analysis done as soon as possible because if you wait until you feel the need to consult your doctor, you may already be in a very bad state.’”
She went to a gynaecologist and asked for tests for acromegaly – a rare disorder that arises from an excess of growth hormone due to a pituitary gland tumour.
The doctor found some abnormal hormonal levels and operated on a small tumour in her pituitary gland.
Prat was found after an extensive media campaign.
Once tracked down by Barcelona’s La Vanguardia newspaper, she said: “The hands gave me a lot of clues but I wasn’t sure whether to say anything but I am a very spontaneous person.
“I’d rather put my foot in it than keep the worry to myself.”
The women have been in contact and plan to meet again after the media furore dies down.
