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By Daily Mail Reporter


A mother says her breast cancer was discovered... by her faithful pet spaniel.

Brenda Jones, 47, was feeling fit and well but said her loving dog called Mrs Murphy sensed something was wrong.

He behaved strangely for a week before pawing at Brenda's left breast causing her to jump up in pain.

Grateful: Brenda Jones says her dog Mrs Murphy has been a life-saver


Mother-of-two Brenda examined the spot where Mrs Murphy had 'targeted' her - and discovered a strange lump.

She went to her GP the next day and was diagnosed with a Grade Three tumour in her breast.

Brenda was admitted to hospital for emergency surgery and is now undergoing a course of chemotherapy.

But she is in no doubt that her five-year-old pet had saved her life.

Brenda said: 'She was sitting on my lap all the time, something she didn't normally do.

'She would nuzzle against my breast and she was staring at me.

'After about a week of this I was sitting on the sofa when she jumped up and her paw caught my left breast.

'It really hurt - I remember saying to my husband: "The dog has bruised me."

'But when I looked and felt my breast I could feel a lump.'
Brenda, a sales negotiator with an estate agency, was diagnosed with the more rare triple negative breast cancer.

She had surgery for the lump in June and is now in the middle of chemotherapy before having a course of radio therapy.

Mrs Murphy: 'She sensed something was wrong'

Brenda said: 'I'm convinced Mrs Murphy could sense that I had a tumour - without her pawing me that day it would have gone undiagnosed.

'I am sure she targeted that part of my breast and I'll always be grateful that she sensed something was wrong.

Brenda and her policeman husband Martin have had Mrs Murphy since she was a puppy.

She got unusual name because the couple thought they had bought a male puppy which they christened Murphy.

But a few weeks later a vet told them Murphy was a bitch so they called her Mrs Murphy instead.

Brenda said: 'She's a lovely dog and I suppose I'm closer to her than the rest of the family.

'She definitely deserves a few treats - biscuits are her favourites.

'The funny thing is that when friends call round they get bit panicky of Mrs Murphy starts staring at them!'

Brenda, of Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, is about to become a grandmother any day when her daughter Samantha gives birth to twins.

She said: 'That's the light at the end of my tunnel.'
Brenda is to make her debut on the catwalk when she models in a Breast Cancer Care charity fashion show at Cardiff City Hall.

She said: 'The charity has been fantastically supportive and has put me in touch with other women who are going through the same thing.'

Breast Cancer Care yesterday praised Mrs Murphy's role in discovering Brenda's illness.

Judy Beard, Director of Fundraising and Marketing at Breast Cancer Care, said: 'It shows a dog can be a woman's best friend too.

'We're really pleased and excited to have Brenda involved in out fashion show. We might have to get Mrs Murphy all dressed up to join her on the catwalk.'

Claire Guest CEO of Medical Detection Dogs, said: 'Mrs Murphy is a superb example of a dog who has naturally used its huge olfactory capacity and intuition to alert her owner to her illness.

'It is dogs like Mrs Murphy that led us at Medical Detection Dogs to conduct the world's first and only scientific study proving the ability of dogs to smell cancer volatiles in human urine, which was published in the BMJ in 2004.

'Subsequently our ongoing research project, which harnesses a dog's extraordinary olfactory capacity along with a dog's willingness to work with us, continues to prove that dogs can smell different types of cancer from bladder cancer, breast, melanoma and our most recent study is about to launch looking at prostate cancer.

'The long-term objective is to work out if cancer has a generic odour, something that will help in the earlier diagnosis, through which thousands of lives will be saved.'



source:dailymail