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<\/p>\nA woman has praised her pet dog for helping save her life after he appeared to detect her breast cancer.<\/p>\n
Katie Banfield, from Wendover in Buckinghamshire, was diagnosed in 2024 – after Alfie “sniffed very intensely” on one part of her breast.<\/p>\n
She said the cocker spaniel, who had received no detection training, put “his nose in really deep”. Two weeks later, doctors found a 2.5cm x 2cm (1in x 0.8in) lump in the same place.<\/p>\n
Banfield, who has now been given the all-clear, described five-year-old Alfie as “a little star” and said “he obviously realised I smelled different from normal”.<\/p>\n
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Katie Banfield says Alfie, a working cocker spaniel, had received no detection training [Katie Banfield]<\/p>\n
Banfield, 62, told the BBC there had been a history of cancer in her family, so she had regularly gone to routine check-ups and screenings prior to her diagnosis.<\/p>\n
She added: “It was incredible that he found it so quickly, particularly as when he first started sniffing there wasn’t even a lump yet.”<\/p>\n
Banfield is doing a tandem sky dive in July to raise money for Medical Detection Dogs<\/a> (MDD), a charity she described as “absolutely incredible”.<\/p>\n ‘Powerful biosensors’<\/p>\n Buckinghamshire-based MDD trains dogs to detect the odour of human diseases.<\/p>\n It says they can use their specialised scent capabilities to sniff out conditions like cancer, Parkinson’s, and malaria, or to warn individuals of life-threatening blood sugar levels or allergic reactions.<\/p>\n An MDD spokesperson said: “Dogs are the most powerful biosensors on the planet.<\/p>\n “They can smell odour at parts per trillion – the equivalent of a teaspoon of sugar in two Olympic-sized swimming pools.”<\/p>\n Alfie’s owner says he is now too old to train as a detection dog [Katie Banfield]<\/p>\n Banfield, an osteopath, said the sky dive had been organised by the Academy of Physical Medicine.<\/p>\n She said: “It is something that, at the back of my mind, I thought ‘I would actually quite like to do that’.<\/p>\n “I’m much older now, so I’m very happy about doing a tandem one.”<\/p>\n Although Alfie is now too old to train as a medical detection dog, Banfield confirmed he still enjoyed agility training and running around the woods with his four-legged friends.<\/p>\n Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a> and X<\/a>.<\/p>\n You may also be interested inRelated internet links![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/8eb25dbb58e83da5d664ef9682778a95.jpeg\"\/)
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