‘My guardian angel’: Oak Island guide diagnosed with cancer after tourist urges him to call doctor

Tour guide and historian Charles Barkhouse is pictured on Oak Island, N.S., on April 28, 2026. (Emma Convey/CTV News Atlantic)

An Oak Island, N.S., tour guide who appears on a hit TV show about the site is crediting a tourist with saving his life after she urged him to contact his doctor.

Charles Barkhouse, an Oak Island historian who is a regular on “The Curse of Oak Island,” says he had just wrapped up a tour in September 2025 when a woman on the tour approached him and identified herself as a doctor.

“I thought she was going to ask me a question about Oak Island, but she introduced herself and said, ‘Can I examine your neck?’ And she felt my neck and said, ‘You need to call your doctor immediately,’” says Barkhouse.

So, that’s exactly what he did. After several tests, he was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of thyroid cancer and had surgery on New Year’s Eve.

“They took the cancer out and discovered that it was medullary thyroid cancer which, if left undetected and untreated, will affect your liver, your lungs, and is fatal,” adds Barkhouse.

The doctors also removed more than 40 lymph nodes, including 23 that were cancerous.

Barkhouse says he’s thankful for the mystery tourist every day.

“I refer to her as my guardian angel,” he says.

Barkhouse never got the doctor’s name. Given the events that unfolded after they met, he wishes he had taken her contact information to thank her.

“Everything lined up. It was like a perfect storm that day,” he says. “She was in the right place at the right time and I wish she was here right now. I would thank her because I am telling you, she probably saved my life.”

Barkhouse has posted about his experience on social media in the hopes of raising awareness about early detection and wanting to dispel any rumours about his health and weight loss.

“I put a post up about this because early detection and early treatment for anything is important,” he says. “And there were also some things stated on the internet that just weren’t true and I wanted to set the record straight.”

Now that he’s on medication, Barkhouse is preparing for another busy season of tours. The team on the island is preparing the visitor centre and adding more exhibits for Oak Island enthusiasts.

“As the months go on, we are going to be adding more exhibits and what have you, so we are excited about that,” says Barkhouse. “We have been shut down since COVID and last year we started back up the tours and the response has just been amazing. There are so many people that want to come here and experience it.”

The island on Nova Scotia’s South Shore has intrigued treasure hunters for more than 200 years. The latest search has been undertaken by Michigan brothers Rick and Marty Lagina, whose extensive efforts to find the fabled treasure have been documented on the popular reality show “The Curse of Oak Island.”

Season 14 of “The Curse of Oak Island” premieres this November.

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