What you need to know
- A woman says an Apple Watch helped save her life after she fell.
- Fall detection called 911 after a woman took a hard fall.
- Doctors found the woman had lung cancer once she reached the hospital.
An Apple Watch alerted emergency services when its wearer took a hard fall. It was only when she got to the hospital that doctors discovered that she had lung cancer. The woman says that the Apple Watch saved her life — if it wasn't for the 911 call, they might not have discovered her cancer until it was too late.
ABC Action News reports that Raylene Hackenwerth doesn't remember what happened when she fell, but that the Apple Watch she was wearing did what it is supposed to do in such situations — it called 911 and sent an alert to her son. After emergency services arrived at the scene and decided that Hackworth needed a hospital visit, things took a turn.
The woman is now undergoing treatment and while the Apple Watch can't be credited with detecting cancer, she does believe that the watch played a vital role in helping save her life.
"If it hadn't been for the falling and the Apple Watch calling them, I wouldn't even know this was there and maybe by the time it had got found in the future, it would be too late," said Raylene.
The report doesn't say which Apple Watch was being worn, but it does say that it was a Christmas present — suggesting it was either an Apple Watch Series 7 or an Apple Watch SE.
This was all made possible — the fall detection and calling 911 — thanks to an Apple Watch feature that has helped countless people to date. Check out our guide on how to enable fall detection on your Apple Watch to make sure you're as safe as can be. Remember, even the best Apple Watch can't help if it isn't set up correctly.
