Apple Watch again came into action to save life. Amanda Faulkner, a psychiatrist living near Napier, New Zealand, had been feeling off for a while. She was more tired than usual, her periods were heavier, and she was having trouble coping with the summer heat. Like many people, she thought it might just be perimenopause or maybe anaemia. She didn’t think it was anything serious.

But her Apple Watch did. Amanda had recently upgraded to the Apple Watch Series 10. One of the new features in this version is the Vitals app, which tracks things like heart rate, breathing, body temperature, blood oxygen, and sleep. It checks these overnight and lets users know if something looks off the next morning.

That’s exactly what happened with Amanda. As reported by The New Zealand Herald and 9to5Mac, her watch kept alerting her that her resting heart rate—usually around 55 beats per minute—was unusually high, often in the 90s. At first, she thought the device was faulty. But the alerts didn’t stop.

Apple Watch detection helps to see a doctor

Within four hours, Amanda got the shocking news—she had acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer. Doctors told her that if she had waited just a few more days, the outcome could have been very different. She was quickly moved to a hospital in Palmerston North, where she started chemotherapy.

Eventually, Amanda decided to show the watch’s data to her doctor. The heart rate changes were clearly visible in the graphs. Her GP took it seriously and sent her straight to the emergency department for tests.

Amanda is still undergoing treatment. She’s scheduled for a stem cell transplant in July. There’s a long road ahead, but she and her family are grateful for the early warning. “Hand on heart, if it wasn’t for my smartwatch constantly nagging me, I wouldn’t have even noticed something was wrong,” she told The New Zealand Herald.

Her husband, Mike, agrees. “The data made a life-changing difference,” he said.

What is the Vitals App?

Experts say tools like this won’t replace doctors but can help people become more aware of changes in their body. In Amanda’s case, it helped spot cancer early—possibly saving her life.

Read More:

Medical fraternity in Kerala demands stringent laws against unscientific homebirths