Cautious Woman Carried Carbon Monoxide Detector — But She Was Already Sick

Jess Potter, a woman from Rochester, New York, had always been very careful about her health. She even packed a carbon monoxide detector when she stayed in hotels, worried about the invisible gas that can be deadly. But while she was busy taking those precautions, she had no idea she was already dealing with a serious illness inside her own body.

Potter had dealt with health anxiety for a long time. Health anxiety means a person worries a lot — sometimes too much — about getting sick. A poll found that 55 percent of U.S. adults said they were anxious about their health in 2026, so Potter was far from alone in feeling that way.

She started bringing a carbon monoxide detector to hotels after reading news stories about people dying from the gas while traveling. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that can make people very sick or even kill them without warning. 'I just have health anxiety and felt it was a silly thing to overlook,' she explained.

In October 2025, Potter noticed she had been getting sick again and again for about three months straight. She thought she had bronchitis and the winter flu, which are both common in colder months. But the sickness kept coming back, so she finally decided to see a doctor.

At the doctor's office, things moved quickly. Potter had a swollen lymph node in her neck along with bronchitis. After several biopsies — tests where doctors remove a small piece of tissue to check it — she received a serious diagnosis: Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer.

Getting that news was hard for Potter to process. 'It kind of seemed like everything I always worried about finally happened,' she said. She began chemotherapy, a treatment that uses medicine to fight cancer cells, right away, and since then her condition has been improving.

Looking back, Potter sees something deeply ironic about her situation. She had spent years worrying about health dangers and taking steps to avoid them, yet cancer was quietly growing inside her the whole time. 'I have always been super cautious about anything health-related, and it was just ironic that I didn't know I had cancer back in October while trying to do all the right things,' she said.

Now, Potter wants her story to help other people pay attention to their health. She encourages everyone to speak up if something about their body feels wrong or unusual. Her message is simple: 'I was always cautious and still had underlying cancer. So I hope it inspires others to listen to their body and take care of it.'