Medal for the heroic dog who sniffed out her owner's cancer:
Daisy the Labrador has helped find disease in 551 patients
냄새로 주인을 암에서 구한 개
“암 가려낼 확률 93%”
Daisy, right, was able to detect the undiagnosed cancer in her owner Dr Claire Guest, left
Daisy the Labrador has discovered cancer in 551 different patients The medical detection dog sniffs a patient's breath or urine to track cancer A Labrador's nose is more than 300 times more sensitive than a human's Daisy was awarded a Blue Cross medal for her life-saving skills
주인의 몸에 암세포가 있다는 것을 알아낸 개의 사연이 화제다.
영국 미러 등 외신은 최근 후각 능력을 리용해 주인의 생명을 구한 개 "데이지" 사연을 보도했다.
데이지는 새끼 시절부터 주인 클레어 게스트로부터 소변 샘플로 암환자를 가려내는 후각 훈련을
집중적으로 받았다. 그 정확도는 93% 정도라고 한다.
그러던 어느 날 데이지는 주인 게스트의 가슴에 코를 댄 채 예민하게 반응했다.
심지어 게스트의 가슴을 발로 밀거나 넘어뜨려 멍들게 하기도 했다.
평소와 다른 데이지의 행동을 이상하게 여긴 게스트는 데이지가 코를 댄 부위를 검사했고 그 결과
작은 종양이 발견됐다.
게스트는 다행히 종양의 크기가 작아 완쾌한 것으로 알려졌다.
또 데이지는 주인의 생명을 구한 공로를 높이 인정받아 메달을 받을 예정이다.
[에디터 황기철]
By Daily Mail Reporter
They usually use their keen sense of smell to find a bone or a tasty treat.
But this talented dog can sniff out cancer – and even detected her owner’s undiagnosed tumour.
Daisy, a ten-year-old Labrador, has now been awarded a medal for her life-saving work.
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Daisy the Labrador, left, has detected cancer in 551 patients since she underwent training as a puppy, right
Daisy, centre, was brought to meet Prince Charles and Camilla to highlight her success in detecting cancer
Her owner Dr Claire Guest began training her to sniff out the killer disease in urine and breath samples when she was a puppy.
Dogs have an incredible sense of smell thanks to 300million scent receptors in their noses, compared to a measly five million in the human nose.
Medical dogs are trained by sniffing samples of people already diagnosed with cancer and those of people without the disease so they can learn to tell the difference.
Daisy has found cancer in 551 patients, an accuracy rate of an impressive 93 per cent.
And she discovered Dr Guest’s undiagnosed breast cancer – the first time she has detected the disease actually growing in someone’s body, rather than by sniffing a sample.
Dr Guest, 50, chief executive of charity Medical Detection Dogs, said: ‘Daisy seemed to be pawing at my chest.
‘She bumped against my body repeatedly – I pushed her away, but she nuzzled against me again, clearly upset. She pushed me so hard that it bruised me.
‘Her behaviour was totally out of character – she was normally such a happy dog ... I felt the tender area where she’d pushed me, and over the next few days I detected the tiniest lump.
‘The bump was a perfectly harmless cyst. But further in the breast tissue was a deep-seated cancer.’
As it was caught so early, the lump was removed before the cancer had time to spread.
‘If it wasn’t for Daisy it would have gone undetected for much longer and could have been more serious,’ Dr Guest added. ‘My own pet labrador saved my life.’
Animal rescue charity Blue Cross presented Daisy, of Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, with a medal for her achievements.
She faced tough competition, including JJ, a bomb detection dog who has saved soldiers’ lives in Afghanistan.
Steve Goody, the charity’s deputy chief executive, said: ‘All the judges on the medal panel were really touched by Daisy’s remarkable story and the incredible difference she has made.
‘Cancer affects the lives of thousands of people and Daisy has made a huge contribution to the diagnosis and early treatment of cancers – she’s a very deserving medal recipient.’
Daisy is now helping to train a team of 12 dogs at Medical Detection Dogs and is a ‘senior consultant’ for the UK’s first ever trial using canines to detect breast cancer
