Apple Watch alert helps save life after brain tumour

A woman coping with multiple losses discovers a wearable alert that uncovers a hidden brain tumour and changes her recovery path.

Apple Watch alert helps save life after brain tumour

Sam Adams, 57, of East Sussex, faced a brutal period in 2020 with the deaths of her father and her dog, plus a broken marriage. She describes feeling overwhelmed and physically tired, but not convinced something serious was wrong until a notification from her Apple Watch pushed her to seek care. An ECG showed ectopic heartbeats, and a 24-hour heart monitor followed. Doctors later found a brain tumour during scans related to her ongoing investigations.

The tumour is likely benign but sits in a location that makes it inoperable. Sam now undergoes regular brain scans, takes medication, and has adjusted her life around health monitoring. She has channelled her experiences into coaching and breathwork, using the trauma as fuel for a new path, while remaining grateful for the early warning that technology provided.

This story illustrates how consumer wearables can prompt timely medical checks when stress and fatigue blur the line between everyday symptoms and something more serious. It also shows the limits of such signals: a low heart rate alert led to a cascade of tests that uncovered a brain tumour, yet the device cannot replace professional medical judgment. The case highlights a broader tension between personal agency in health and the anxiety that rapid data, never meant as medical diagnosis, can generate. Ultimately, technology acted as a trigger for care, but healing came through a combination of medical treatment, ongoing monitoring, and coping strategies like breathwork.

Highlights

Health signals from devices are prompts, not diagnoses, and the human response matters most.