A tiny dog has saved her 78-year-old owner's life by warning her of a cancerous lump in her right breast.
Brenda Richards was carrying her pup upstairs to bed as usual, when Yorkshire terrier Cleo began clawing and wriggling at her chest.
The seven-year-old pup alerted Brenda to investigate the area, and it was then she found a suspicious lump.
Medics diagnosed the great-grandmother-of-three with breast cancer, and after eight months of treatment, she was given the all-clear.
Brenda said: "Without a shadow of a doubt, my little doggie, Cleo, found the lump in my breast and saved my life."
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Yorkie Cleo is too small to climb the stairs, so retired home help worker, Brenda, usually carries her to bed.
But in April 2019, the panicked pooch started acting out and was strangely wriggling to break free.
During the struggle, she clipped Brenda with her claws, alerting her to the deadly disease.
Brenda, who lives in Derby with husband of 60 years Mick, said: "She just did not want to be there.
"She was struggling and wriggling around in my arms and she has little legs and little claws.
"It was then I felt the lump."
Brenda was diagnosed with breast cancer by medics at the Royal Derby Hospital, where she'd previously volunteered for three years.
She then went on to have eight months of treatment, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and an on-going clinical trial.
Brenda said: "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.
"They were shocked to see me in there as a patient.
"I would never have known that nine years later I would be back at the same hospital with the same nurses being diagnosed with breast cancer. The nurses were all amazing.
"There was no messing about. My mammogram, biopsy and diagnosis all happened on the same day.
"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.
Since getting the all-clear in February 2020, Brenda has felt "fantastic" and urges women to book their mammograms.
She said: "The sooner you go to get checked or diagnosed, the better.
"In spite of my worries, when cancer actually happened to me, I breezed through it because my lump was found early."
Brenda puts her early diagnosis entirely down to her Yorkie Cleo, and says: "She was trying to tell me something. 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."
Brenda dreads to think what would have happened if Cleo hadn't behaved the way she did.
She adds: "My dog Cleo, my baby, saved my life without a doubt."
Do you have a dog story to tell? Contact nia.dalton@reachplc.com.
