Heidi, a 9-year-old shepherd-lab mix, who is trained to sniff out drugs, helped detect her owner Anne Wills' lung cancer, Wills' doctor said. (Photo courtesy Saint Agnes Hospital via Fox 8 Cleveland)
A Baltimore woman’s lung cancer is in remission after she said her dog tipped her off about the disease and compelled her to visit the doctor’s office.
Fox 8 Cleveland reported that 53-year-old Anne Wills’ 9-year-old shepherd-lab mix, Heidi, wouldn’t let her owner get up anytime she would sit down.
“She would scratch my arm, and she was very panic stricken and panting a lot,” Wills told the news station. Next, Wills said Heidi “started taking her nose and stuffing it in my chest and keeping it there and breathing in really deeply.” Heidi was professionally trained to sniff out drugs, and find missing people and pets.
Tests at the doctor’s office revealed that Wills had lung cancer despite the woman not having any symptoms.
Wills’ doctor, Dr. Esner Cole, an oncologist at Saint Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, told ABC News that if Heidi hadn’t let her owner know about the cancer, the disease likely would have metastasized and been incurable.
“This dog diagnosed the cancer before the doctors did, and it’s just something to marvel at,” Dr. Cole told ABC.
Wills also credited Heidi with saving her life.
“If it wasn’t for what she did, I’d probably be making funeral arrangements,” she told ABC.