Oklahoma woman credits Apple Watch for saving her life after leading to diabetes diagnosis

Apple Watch is equipped with a heart rate monitor and the ability to detect Afib, and sometimes those can lead to lifesaving discoveries. Ahead of World Diabetes Day on November 14, Judith Luebke of Oklahoma, who credits the Apple Watch with saving her life, has shared her story of how the watch helped lead to her diabetes diagnosis two years ago.

Luebke originally attributed the high heart rate notification on her Apple Watch to the stress of recently losing her spouse, but co-workers insisted she go to the hospital to get checked out. That’s when doctors were able to diagnose her with diabetes for the first time. She also had critically high blood sugar levels but didn’t know about her condition.

KSWO has her story:

”One Friday morning I got a notification on my watch that I was in A-FIB,” Judith Luebke said. ”I talked to my boss that morning.. and said, ‘you know, I’ve got a meeting this morning. Maybe I’ll see the doctor after that, maybe I will, maybe I won’t — maybe I’ll wait the weekend’,” she explained. “And she said ‘you need to go now’.”

After driving herself to the hospital, Luebke learned she was diabetic. She also had critically high sugar levels — a deadly combination.

”If I had waited the weekend, I probably would not have survived,” she said. “That’s what I would’ve done if I’d not gotten the notification on my watch. I just figured with everything going on, I just wasn’t feeling good, and I’ll get to the doctor when I get to the doctor.”

Luebke’s daughter also shared their gratitude for the Apple Watch:

Her daughter, Shannon Bowers, shared how happy she is her mother went to the hospital.

”I don’t know what I would do without her.. If it hadn’t been for the watch, and if it hadn’t have been for the people in her life — her boss and her other coworkers — telling her ‘no, you need to go in’, and her listening, she wouldn’t be here,” Bowers said.

The story illustrates just how real-world customers are using the Apple Watch and discovering benefits that they never could have imagined. Learn more about Apple Watch and health here and World Diabetes Day here. You can also view the video interview at KSWO.