Life-saving potato chip alerts Marysville woman to cancer

MARYSVILLE, Wash. — A Marysville woman says her love of potato chips led to a discovery that may have saved her life.

Kristine Moore has eaten Ruffles potato chips every day for the past 20 years.

In February, a sharp fragment of a chip poked her tonsil. The next day, she felt like she was coming down with something and went to the doctor.

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They tested her for strep, and it came back negative. But the doctor didn't like the look of her tonsils and took a biopsy. The results came back abnormal, and after further testing, they found a cancerous tumor.

Doctors say it was caught early. The cure rate for this type of cancer is up to 80 percent, especially if caught early.

"The potato chip was a blessing in disguise," Moore told KIRO 7 News. "I probably wouldn't have found out another year."

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Moore believes smoking may have caused this cancer.

She has quit cold turkey after her diagnosis.

As for the ruffles, that is another story.

"I know I shouldn't eat this many, but I love them," she said.

Moore's doctor at the Providence Regional Cancer Partnership in Everett where she will start her radiation and chemotherapy treatments in a few weeks.

Cox Media Group