An Albany, Oregon woman gives credit to her shelter cat for being alive today after the family cat detected a lump in her breast after jumping on her chest. That lump turned out to be cancer.
Michelle Pierson and her husband Will never dreamed when they adopted their cat Mia from the Willamette Humane Society last year that Mia would detect cancer just by laying on Michelle’s chest one night as the couple was watching TV.
In an interview with KGW8 News 48-year-old Michelle described what happened one night in June when Mia jumped on her chest and started sniffing.
“My husband and I were lying in bed watching TV, when out of nowhere, Mia got up on my chest, sniffed my right breast and looked in my face. She sniffed the spot again and looked at my face and I tried to shove her off. She came back up and just laid down on that right breast and looked at me like, ‘I’m trying to tell you something.’”
Will added
“No matter if it’s proven or not, it happened. Whether or not the cat really did see something, it caused Michelle to feel there, so in my mind, the cat saved her life.”
Michelle calls Mia her angel and believes she would have lost her fight against Stage II breast cancer if not for the cat. There was no breast cancer in her family history so she diagnosis took her by surprise.
After detecting the lump, Will told Michelle she should see her doctor. A few days later she got the dreaded phone call confirming she had breast cancer. Michelle is in the middle of treatment at this time.
While Mia has always been loved by her family, Will said Mia gets what she wants when she wants it and can have as much as she wants. After all, she’s considered a heroine by her family.
Michelle says a lot of her friends who don’t believe cats can detect disease have called her crazy. Dogs with special training are known for detecting illness. Mia hasn’t had any formal training. She just knew…
In a way, you can look at this story as karma. Michelle and Will saved Mia from the shelter and now Mia has paid them back by detecting the lump. You do good things and good things come back to you.
Click here for a related article on cats detecting cancer. The entire interview with Michelle and her family can be found here.
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To a being with a superior sense of smell, in simple terms, tumourous cancer reeks. Not just one scent, but possibly hundreds.
Cancers are biochemically very complex, there is no reason that a domestic cat could not detect the chemicals, it is not just dogs, though dogs are simpler to train.
Horses have been known to detect cancer in humans too.
Everything we eat, drink or emotionally experience, will significantly change our overall smell to our companion species. Every type and sub type of cancer produces a signature made up of the biological processes that it goes through as it grows.
I wish the very best outcome to Michelle. Long may the wonderful Mia live, a very special cat.
The closeness humans and their feline companions can form can be life saving in so many wonderful ways.