TwoCents | Detecting Illness Through Smell

I recently stumbled upon an intriguing article on Quora, titled "Does Cancer Have An Odor?" If you know Quora, you know it’s a site where folks from all walks of life, as well as all over the world share their personal experiences and ask questions about any and everything. I won’t lie, people ask the weirdest questions there sha. I’m sure if you try searching; you can find a “how to defraud people” or even “how to get away with murder” question there. Hehe! Loved the show, by the way! Anyway, beneath that particular heading, a user shared a poignant account. He recounted how, during a trip with his mother and her close friend, he rested on his mother's friend's lap feeling tired and immediately detected a pungent, sickly aroma so potent it left him feeling sick. According to this narrator, within a month of this encounter, his mom's friend received a devastating diagnosis and eventually succumbed to I think, liver cancer or so.This article stirred a memory of one of my mom’s friends, who tragically passed away from cancer many years ago. I was young, still in secondary school yet I recall visiting her with my mother and younger brother, and when I embraced her, I noticed a faint yet unmistakable odor. I don't recall the exact timeframe between that encounter and her diagnosis, but that visit was the last time I saw her in good health, as she was diagnosed with cancer months or even a year later; and eventually passed away. The next time my mother took me to visit her friend just before her passing, i noticed that strange scent again, and this time its intensity was greater. And that last visit was equally the last time I saw my mom’s friend alive. So when I happened upon that Quora discussion, I was inevitably reminded of my own experience, and I couldn't help but wonder at the possibility that this peculiar odor was, in fact, a harbinger of her illness, much like the numerous individuals who shared their own anecdotes in the Quora thread, suggesting a potential connection between unusual body odors and underlying health issues.It’s just the weirdest thing. Perceiving a strange odor on someone else, only to find out the person has a life-threatening illness that eventually kills them.It’s the way I’ve also heard dogs and cats can detect sickness in humans through smell, as well. Dogs, in particular, who we all know possess an incredibly keen sense of smell, which enables some to be trained to predict and respond to seizures in people with epilepsy and other conditions. I don’t even think the capabilities in human and animals overall sense of smell is fully understood. I think it’s still somewhat a mystery. I thankfully haven’t had anything similar happen since then, or experienced many personal losses, but we were all deeply fond of my mother’s friend. She was in her forties, unmarried and didn’t have kids, this much I recollect. I also recall her to be a really soft spoken, kind woman and as much as that article made me sad to think about her, I’m happy I thought about her at all.I sincerely hope her soul continues to rest in eternal peace, and that her family experiences more healing and comfort over her memory, as the years go by. I extend the prayer for that healing and comfort to anyone afflicted with this mystifying disease, as well as families who have lost loved ones to this perplexing ailment to which a permanent cure remains elusive. It is well, but the thought of ever smelling sickness on another human long before a diagnosis confirms said illness, is something I pray never to experience again.

Other insights from Belinda Chiazor