John Paul M. Joaquin Tech 10.22.2022 02:Oct AM EDT

Apple Watch's Heart Rate Notifications Help 12-Year-Old Girl Discover, Treat Cancer

Apple created its first smartwatch by accident. According to a report from Business Insider, the tech giant didn't know why it wanted a smartwatch during the time it was being worked on.

Wired writer David Pierce even mentioned in his report that the main idea behind the Apple Watch was to give Apple customers a device preventing them from spending hours on it while only important information, such as the user's heart rate.

Little did Apple know that their smartwatch would become something that saved the life of an adolescent.

A 12-year-old girl had reportedly spotted and had her cancer treated just in time thanks to her Apple Watch's heart rate notifications, per Hour Detroit.

The Apple Watch has been saving lives since its introduction ins 2014 thanks to features that enable the device to detect falls and car crashes, per 9to5Mac.

Apple Watch - The Story Behind The Cancer Detector

Imani Miles, the 12-year-old in question, and her mother, Jessica Kitchen, are living normal lives. Miles owns and wears an Apple Watch even at home. For a time, things were normal.

However, the normality of their lives would be shattered when one night, Miles' Apple Watch became incessant in its constant beeping due to its heart rate monitor alerting them to an abnormally high heart rate.

Concerned about her daughter's health, Kitchen took Imani to the doctor and discovered that Imani not only had appendicitis. She also had a cancer-producing neuroendocrine tumor - something rarely seen in children.

Unfortunately, by the time Imani's cancer was found, it had already spread to other parts of her body. However, thanks to the Apple Watch's heart rate monitor detecting it early on, all doctors had to do was remove the tumor and cancer via surgery.

Kitchen said that were it not for the Apple Watch's constant beeping, she would have taken Imani to the hospital a few days later, which could have been fatal to the 12-year-old adolescent.

"If she didn't have that watch, it could have been so much worse," Kitchen said.

Thanks to Imani's successful surgery, she was discharged from the hospital and is now recovering at home. She now wears her Apple Watch every day, along with her spreading the word about the benefits of smartwatches and wearable technology.

Other Evidence of Apple Watch Saving Lives

Imani wasn't the only person Apple Watches has saved since its introduction in 2014, and in some cases. A 70-year-old man's life was saved when his Apple Watch contacted emergency services for him when he fainted and hit his head hard on the floor, per Science Times.

Apple Insider's report made mention of a 67-year-old woman who received multiple notifications from the warnings her Apple Watch raised, saying that her heart was in atrial fibrillation. She later found out through her doctors that what she had was myxoma, a rare tumor that can grow fast and constrict the blood supply to the heart, causing a stroke.