Woman Smells Her Husband’s Illness Years Before Doctors Know—Now Science Wants Her Help
A Woman Who Can Smell Parkinson's Disease
A Special Nose Helps Science
Joy Milne is a woman from Scotland with a very rare ability. She can smell a disease called Parkinson’s. This is not a normal superpower. Most people cannot smell sickness, but Joy can notice special changes in the way a person smells. She first noticed something different about her husband Les when he was almost 32. Joy and Les had been together since they were teenagers. One day, Joy told Les, “You smell different. It is a musky, strange odor.” Les worked in hospitals, so they thought maybe it was from his job. Joy asked him to shower more, and they even argued about it.
Years later, doctors found out Les had Parkinson’s disease. This is a sickness that hurts the brain slowly, over many years. It makes people shake, move slowly, and have stiff muscles. There is no special test for Parkinson’s right now. Doctors have to look at symptoms and ask about family history. Joy’s nose helped her spot the sickness in Les long before doctors did.
How Joy’s Ability Changed Science
After Les was diagnosed, Joy went with him to a Parkinson’s group. There, she smelled the same scent on other people. She realized she could smell Parkinson’s on more than just Les. Joy wanted to help others. She began working with scientists. She spent time in labs, smelling T-shirts and skin swabs from people with and without Parkinson’s. Joy looked for something called “sebum,” which is an oily stuff on our skin. Sebum changes when someone gets Parkinson’s.
“Les and I should have been enjoying retirement, but Parkinson’s had stolen our lives. We became determined that others wouldn’t suffer the same way,” said Joy. When Les died in June 2015, Joy promised to keep helping. She worked with a team at the University of Manchester in the UK. The scientists found that people with Parkinson’s have special chemicals in their sebum. They found around 500 chemicals that were different between people with and without Parkinson’s.
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Making a New Skin Test
The University of Manchester team made a new skin swab test. This test is 95% accurate in the lab. It looks for the special chemicals in sebum. Professor Perdita Barran led the research. She said, “We are now working with hospital labs to use our test in the NHS. We hope to start testing people in Manchester soon.” This could help find Parkinson’s earlier and help people get care sooner.
Joy thinks her husband’s life would have been different if they knew sooner. “We would have spent more time with family. We would have traveled more. If we had known earlier, it might have explained the mood swings and depression,” she said.
Discovering Cancer Early With Vaccines
A New Hope for Cancer Prevention
Cancer is a sickness that hurts many people. In the United States, over two million people were told they had cancer last year. About 611,720 people died from it. Some common cancers are breast, prostate, lung, colon, skin, and blood cancers.
Now, scientists are working on something very exciting. They hope to make a vaccine that can stop cancer before it starts. This is being done at the University of Oxford in the UK, along with a company called GSK. They want to find cancer before it is even seen. This could happen up to 20 years before someone gets sick.
Professor Sarah Blagden said, “Cancer does not come from nowhere. It can take up to 20 years to grow in the body. At first, you cannot see it at all. The new vaccine would help stop the disease early, in what we now call the pre-cancer stage.”
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How The Cancer Vaccine Might Work
The researchers want to find changes in cells that happen long before cancer starts. If they find these changes, they can make a vaccine to help the body fight off cancer before it gets strong. Professor Irene Tracey from Oxford said this research is a big step forward. She said, “We hope to unlock the power of cancer vaccines and bring hope to patients worldwide.”
There are already some cancer vaccines being tested. One is called LynchVax, for people with Lynch syndrome—a disorder that makes some cancers more likely. There is also OvarianVax, which helps the body fight early ovarian cancer, and LungVax for lung cancer. The hope is that one day, many people can get vaccines to stop cancer before it begins.
A Woman’s Special Gift Helps Doctors
Joy’s Nose Finds Parkinson’s In Others
Joy Milne’s story is special. She was used to her husband’s smell, but one day she noticed it was different. Scientists know our smell changes as we get older, because of something called 2-nonenal in our bodies. But Les’ new smell was not just from age. It was from Parkinson’s.
Joy can smell Parkinson’s in people, like how some dogs can smell sickness. She first noticed the smell before Les turned 32. She told The Guardian, “I noticed a musky, dank odor on him. He knew about my strong sense of smell. I thought maybe it was from his job, so I told him to shower more. That caused arguments.”
Twelve years later, Les was told he had Parkinson’s. The same thing that happened to actor Michael J. Fox. At a Parkinson’s group, Joy smelled the same scent on others. She realized she could help doctors find the disease early. She went to labs, smelling T-shirts and swabs for sebum.
“I could detect whether the person had the disease with 95% accuracy. I was surprised,” said Joy.
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How Joy’s Smell Helps Science
Joy worked with the University of Manchester for years. She was even named in a science paper. The research found that Parkinson’s patients have more of certain chemicals, like hippuric acid, eicosane, and octadecanal, on their skin. This is what Joy smells. Her work helps scientists make better tests for Parkinson’s, so people can get help sooner.
Living With Early-Onset Alzheimer’s
A Family’s Battle With Memory Loss
Theresa Pippen was a busy accountant in Florida. She was good at her job. But something started to change when she was just 49. Theresa was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. This is a sickness that makes the brain forget things and makes it hard to think. Usually, it happens to older people, but Theresa got it young.
Theresa’s husband, Trey, shared their story on YouTube. He said, “Theresa was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease at 49. But our story starts years before that. In 2012 and 2013, she started to show signs of mild cognitive impairment.” At first, they did not know what was wrong. Theresa would forget promises and not finish projects. She spent less time with family, and their marriage suffered. Trey said, “I was frustrated. I couldn’t figure out why these changes were happening.”
When Work Gets Hard
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Theresa started having trouble at work. In 2014, she was demoted, even though she had worked in accounting for almost 20 years. She worked hard and stayed late, but her brain just could not keep up. After being let go, Theresa tried to find new jobs. She worked as a receptionist and then in a supermarket. But even these jobs became too hard. Finally, after a year, doctors gave her the Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
Theresa passed away in March last year. Her story helps people understand that Alzheimer’s can happen to younger people, too. Trey and Theresa wanted to help others know the signs and get help early.
A Couple’s Fight Against Deadly Cancer
A Lump Changes Everything
Lauren and her husband Stuart from the UK were living an active life. They loved to travel. One day, while getting ready for a zipline on vacation, Lauren saw a lump on Stuart’s neck. She thought it was nothing, but said, “We agreed he’d get it checked out when we got home.”
After their trip, doctors found it was stage three melanoma, a serious skin cancer. Stuart had to go through a big surgery. Doctors took out 28 lymph nodes and part of his neck muscle. He got strong medicine, and for a while, things looked better. He even went back to work, and they got a dog named Nala.
But in March 2023, the cancer came back. It had spread to his liver and thigh. Now it was stage four, which is very serious. Stuart got more medicine to help his immune system, but it did not work. He was rushed to the hospital with liver problems.
Lauren said, “Every time we got our hopes up, we were knocked down again. But Stu never gave up. He always faced it with strength.”
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Hope, Love, and New Treatments
Even with all the treatments, the cancer kept coming back. In August 2023, the couple got engaged on their 10-year anniversary. They got married in December. Lauren said, “It was one of the happiest days of our lives and one of the hardest. We didn’t know what lay ahead, but we knew we didn’t want to wait.”
Stuart then started chemotherapy. He lost his hair and felt very tired. In March this year, Lauren came home and found Stuart unable to speak. Doctors found a tumor and a bleed on his brain. He had surgery to remove it, and his speech came back. His first words were, “Ready to fight.”
Even after brain surgery, the cancer kept spreading. The doctors in the UK had no more treatments to try. Lauren learned about a special treatment in Israel. It is called TIL therapy. It uses the body’s own immune cells to fight cancer. But it is very expensive—about £165,000 (over $222,000).
Lauren said, “It’s not just about extending life, it’s about giving him a real chance.” The couple is raising money to try the new treatment.
If you or someone you know needs to talk, you can call the American Cancer Society at 1-800-227-2345 or use their live chat.
What We Can Learn From These Stories
These stories show us how important it is to notice changes in our bodies and get help early. Joy Milne’s special nose helps doctors find Parkinson’s sooner. Scientists are working on new tests and vaccines to help stop diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s before they get too strong. Families like the Pippens and the Smiths fight every day for better treatments and hope.
Doctors, scientists, and families all work together to make the future better. By sharing stories and working hard, we can help more people live longer and healthier lives. Always remember to listen to your body, talk to your doctor about any changes, and support those who are fighting tough battles. Every small step can make a big difference.
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