Mother-of-three says her rescue dog saved her by sniffing her until she was diagnosed with cancer

A dog lover has revealed how her beloved rescue pet saved her life by alerting her to be checked out for breast cancer by repeatedly sniffing her arms.  

Joanne Lowen, a 60-year-old retired school teacher from Kent, explained she has her rescue dog Menios to thank for her early cancer diagnosis after she welcomed the starved and wounded pet into her home. 

Menios, a Hellenic hound, is likely to have been tortured, beaten and left for dead by his previous owners. He was found in terrible shape in his native country, starved and weighing just 8lbs, exhausted, with broken ribs and dislocated kneecaps, and Joanne decided to take him.    

Speaking to Femail, Joanne, who already had adopted two other pups from Greece, recounted how Menios’ repeated sniffs at her arms alarmed her enough to visit the GP, which led to an early cancer diagnosis. 

The mother-of-three had had a mammogram that came back clear in September, only a few months before her family welcomed Menios on 23 December 2018. 

However, when Menios would not stop sniffing her, she decided to visit the GP due to her history of breast cancer, which she’d had twenty years ago. 

‘I’ve had heard of dog sniffing illnesses, and being the “crazy dog lady” that I am, I decide to have it checked out,’ she said.  

‘If it hadn’t been for him, I would have waited until my next mammogram two to three years from now, which is a long time,’ she said. 

She said she told her GP she could feel a lump herself, rather than admitting she came because her dog was sniffing her. 

The doctor’s physical exam didn’t lead anywhere, but due to Joanne’s cancer history, he ordered some further exams at Medway Hospital in Gillingham, Kent, to make sure. 

The results showed that Joanne suffered from Invasive lobular carcinoma, a type of cancer that begins in the milk-producing glands (lobules) of the breasts. 

Thankfully, it was still in its early stages. 

‘I got home and I gave him a big hug,’ Joanne said. 

She went on to get treated for the cancer, having an operation in June 2019 in order to get rid of the tumour at KIMS Hospital in Maidstone. Results showed the cancer had not spread to her lymph notes. 

However, it took ten days before the pensioner could know for sure whether she had clear margins – meaning no cancer cells had survived on the breast or travelled elsewhere. During that time, Menios kept sniffing her, which stressed Joanne. 

‘I told my husband “he’s scaring me,” she said, before adding her husband simply told her Menios could be sniffing her surgery wound rather than cancer. 

Eventually, Joanne was given clear margin, and had to undergo radiotherapy to make sure no cancer was left behind.   

The mother-of-three, who joked she was a ‘failed fosterer,’ initially heard about him from the Healing Paws Animal Rescue Zankinthinos. 

The charity arranges transport by ferry and overland with volunteer drivers, and Joanne initially took on Menios as a foster pet, but decided to keep him after all they went through.  

She said that after he detected her cancer, she told herself there was ‘no way he’s going anywhere,’ but added that their bond was so strong that she would have kept him regardless.

Speaking to Metro, Joanne explained that a vet in Greece had said Menios needed to built some muscle mass, but months on, he was still weak. 

‘His back legs were really weak. He had lots of scars on him and it looked like his ribs had been broken at some point, because they were a bit distorted looking.’ 

Medics suggested the pup had been beaten or tortured, because both his hind legs were broken.   

Joanne added: ‘The vets said he must have been in excruciating pain. His legs were very weak, kept falling over, he had no muscles there. Every time he moved his knees were popping out.’ 

Menios, who live with Joanne and her two other rescues Hector and Spiros, is undergoing dog-hydrotherapy in order to gain strength under the loving care of his new owner.