Photo: SWNS
In April 2019, Yorkshire terrier Cleo, then seven, clawed at her owner Brenda Richards as she tried to carry her upstairs to bed — unusual bedtime behavior for Richards' pet.
Loving Cleo is too tiny to climb the stairs, so retired home help worker Brenda usually carries her to bed.
In response to the canine’s bizarre behavior, Richards, 78, looked at the area where the pup was pawing and found a lump, which medics later diagnosed as breast cancer.
“She was trying to tell me something. Without a shadow of a doubt, my little doggie, Cleo, found the lump in my breast and saved my life,” the grateful dog owner told SWNS. “I had no idea there was a lump there. If my little doggie hadn’t found it, I don’t think I would ever have known about it.
“I dread to think what would have happened if Cleo hadn’t behaved the way she did,” Richards added.
SWNS
After eight months of treatment, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and an ongoing clinical trial, she was given the all-clear.
“I knew I was in safe hands. I knew all the nurses from when I volunteered at the very same hospital. I had seen how they treated people with my own eyes,” Richards said.
“There was no messing about. My mammogram, biopsy, and diagnosis all happened on the same day,” she added. “They gave me a choice to have a lumpectomy, a mammogram, or do nothing, so I opted for the lumpectomy.”
The minimally invasive procedure meant doctors removed the cancer and a small amount of the healthy surrounding tissue.
After her experience, Brenda is urging women to book their annual mammograms.
“The sooner you go to get checked or diagnosed, the better,” Richards said. “In spite of my worries, when cancer actually happened to me, I breezed through it because my lump was found early.”
source: people.com
