A 71-year-old grandmother says her Apple Watch saved her life, after it helped doctors discover her lung cancer.
The watch detected that Raylene Hackenwerth had a hard fall and called the paramedics automatically, handing over her location along with an automated distress call.
Paramedics found Raylene unconscious and injured and was rushed to hospital, where doctors discovered a cancerous mass growing in her lungs.
“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.
(Image: DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
“I couldn’t be happier that that is what we decided to give her for Christmas this year. It never occurred to me that it would save her life,” said Jason in an interview with a Florida news site.
Raylene added: “I couldn’t be happier that that is what we decided to give her for Christmas this year. It never occurred to me that it would save her life.”
(Image: Apple)
How to set up fall detection on the Apple Watch
If you have an Apple Watch SE or an Apple Watch Series 4 or later and it detects you’ve had a hard fall, it will tap you on the wrist, sound an alarm and show an alert. If it then detects that you haven’t moved for about a minute, it will automatically call the emergency services.
The watch will then message your emergency contacts with your location.
If you’re 55 or over, fall detection will be automatically enabled. If you’re younger, you can follow these steps to make sure it’s set up for your next high-speed bike ride.
- Open the Apple Watch app on the iPhone and tap the ‘My Watch’ tab
- Hit ‘Emergency SOS’ then scroll to the bottom
- Find the switch for Fall Detection and make sure it is switched to ‘on’
- Go to the Apple Health app and make sure you have set up your Medical ID.
- Just answer a series of health questions and add some emergency contacts.
Now when you have an emergency, the Apple Watch will be able to contact your loved ones.
