HOW DOGS SNIFFED OUT MY CANCER
ADOG lover says she owes her life to her beloved pets after they detected her fastgrowing breast cancer. Linda Munkley, 65, started checking her breasts for lumps after unusual behaviour from her Alsatians Bea and Enya.
“I have four German shepherds including five-year-old Bea and her three-year-old daughter Enya,” said Linda.
“One day I was sat on the sofa when Bea jumped up and began intensely sniffing and headbutting my chest area. She had never done anything like this before, so it was quite unusual, but at the time I thought nothing of it.
“But then she kept constantly doing it every day, jumping up at me and really sniffing just my chest area – she was so determined and I couldn’t stop her from doing it at all.
“On and on this behaviour went so I began checking my chest to see if I could feel any lumps, but there was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.”
This strange “headbutting” continued so Linda kept inspecting herself regularly. After two months she made a worrying discovery.
Retired Linda, from Bargoed, said: “Eight weeks went by of the exact same behaviour of Bea headbutting me in the chest and sniffing that specific area until one day I felt a lump in one of my breasts.
“I went to the doctors to have it examined and so they analysed it and carried out a mammogram and then confirmed to me that it was a fast-growing form of breast cancer, and it had started spreading to my lymph nodes.
“After it had been diagnosed as cancer Bea’s daughter Enya started carrying out the exact behaviour as her mum, jumping up at me or sitting on my lap and nuzzling at my chest.”
Thankfully Linda’s treatment was successful, and she noticed a change in the pooches’ behaviour.
She said: “I started chemotherapy and throughout that time Bea and Enya continued with their behaviour until after my third session of chemo, when they both completely stopped.
“I had six months of chemotherapy and then had an operation to remove the lump followed by a month of radiotherapy. After the lump had been removed it was analysed, which revealed that the chemotherapy had actually killed the cancer cells.
“I remembered the moment Bea and Enya had stopped sniffing me and wondered if that had been the exact moment the chemotherapy had been successful at tackling the cancerous cells in the lump.”
One of the main reasons Linda was able to recover was due to her speedy diagnosis, and her doctor recommended she thank her dogs for what they had done.
Linda said: “During one of the appointments with my doctor I explained what Bea and Enya had been doing, and the story spread throughout the whole hospital. My doctor was amazed and told me that I should go home and thank my dogs because they had saved my life.
“As their behaviour had made me keep checking for lumps, my cancer was caught in its very first stages which means we were able to successfully tackle it – my doctor even said it was one of the best cases they had ever seen and treated.”
It is well known that pets, particularly dogs, have senses hundreds of times better than those of humans. This makes them ideal to be trained as assistance and medical detection pets, so they can alert owners with health conditions of any serious impending medical event. Research is also currently being undertaken to see if dogs can detect diseases, such as cancer, through smell.
Linda shared her story with her local vet Jordi Colas, owner and vet
erinary surgeon at Vets4Pets Blackwood, during a check-up for one of her other German shepherds.
Jordi said: “When Linda told me her story I was absolutely amazed, but I wasn’t too surprised.
“A dog’s sense of smell is millions of times better than our own and so they are able to detect every single individual aspect and tiny odour concentrations of a certain smell.
“I know of dogs therefore being trained to detect the smallest odour traces caused by certain diseases like cancer to help lead to earlier diagnoses.
“Linda’s story is still incredible though, and I am so glad to hear that she is recovering well. Bea and Enya are both wonderful dogs and it really humbles you as a human to hear stories like this about how amazing our dogs and their abilities are.”
Linda is currently undergoing a form of chemotherapy every three weeks to help prevent the cancer from returning and is hoping to be discharged and given the all-clear soon.
“Once I am discharged I will have to come back once a year for a checkup, but I am overwhelmed at how lucky I have been that my cancer was found and treated so quickly,” added Linda.
“I truly believe that Bea and Enya detected the cancer way before the lump even fully formed and were just trying their hardest to alert me.
“Their senses and abilities are amazing – Bea is a former top show dog and had just started training for police-like duties, like attacking the sleeve, when I first got her, but she has had no medical detection training whatsoever.
“Words can’t describe how grateful I am to the both of them – what they have done is just astounding and they really have saved my life. It just goes to show how incredible dogs really are.”