Top News Online
WTXF-TV
Allison Magee had a pain in her throat after swallowing part of her retainer, X-rays also revealed she had a cancerous mass on her thyroid.
A Pennsylvania girl’s retainer not only gave her a million dollar smile — it saved her life.
Allison Magee awoke one day with a pain in her neck. X-rays taken at the emergency room confirmed the Havertown teen, then 13, had swallowed part of her retainer. More troubling than the piece of plastic was the cancerous mass doctors found on the girl’s thyroid, WTXF-TV reports.
WTXF-TV
“It was a blessing in disguise,” she says of the freak medical accident brought on by her retainer.
“It was scary,” Magee told the TV station through tears of her ordeal.
The disease had advanced enough that it spread to the girl’s lymph nodes — but not yet to her lungs.
WTXF-TV
An X-ray showed a cancerous mass on her thyroid, which may have never been detected had her retainer not gone down her throat.
Doctors at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia say finding the tumor when they did may have saved the teen’s life.
She underwent several operations — one lasting eight hours — and two years later, at 15 years old, her cancer is in remission.
WTXF-TV
An X-ray shows Allison Magee’s throat with a piece of her retainer lodged near a cancerous mass.
Now a high school sophomore, the Make-a-Wish Foundation scored the aspiring actress a role as an extra in “Catching Fire,” the second movie in the Hunger Games trilogy.
If not for the loose piece of plastic — and the doctor’s care — Magee realizes she may not have had the opportunity.
WTXF-TV
A piece of her retainer was stuck in Allison Magee’s throat.
“It was a blessing in disguise,” she says of the freak medical accident.
WTXF-TV
The Havertown, Penn. teenager ended up in the hospital after a freak accident led to a shocking discovery.
sgoldstein@nydailynews.com or follow on Twitter
