A woman who can smell Parkinson’s disease has used her superpower to help scientists discover ten molecules which could lead to the first diagnostic test.
Joy Milne, 67, astonished doctors with her ability to detect the illness through smell under scientific conditions.
Her incredible gift came to light as her husband Les fought the illness that would later claim his life aged 65, two years ago.
Researchers at Manchester University first began to believe Parkinson’s might have a discernible odour when they found out about Mrs Milne’s story.
Retired nurse Joy Milne, 67, from Perth, Scotland, astonished doctors with her ability to detect the illness through smell under scientific conditions
Joy’s husband, a consultant anaesthetist, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at the age of 45 but Mrs Milne had noticed she could detect an unusual musky smell from him years before.
The retired nurse, of Perth, Scotland, only linked the odour to the disease after meeting people with the same distinctive smell at a Parkinson’s UK support group.
She told scientists at a conference and subsequent tests carried out by experts saw her correctly identify t-shirts worn by Parkinson’s patients.
But incredibly, in the same tests she detected the odour on a shirt worn by someone in the control group without Parkinson’s who was told three months later that they had the illness.
Mrs Milne said: ‘I’m in a tiny, tiny, branch of the population, somewhere between a dog and a human.
‘I didn’t think it was an insult, I thought that’s quite nice I can smell better than most humans.’
Mrs Milne told how she realised she could smell the illness from others when she attended a support group meeting with her husband before he died two years ago.
She said: ‘We sat down, we’re having a cup of tea and I said to him “Those people smell the same as you”, and he was confused.
‘I said “The people with Parkinson’s in that room smelt the same as you”.
‘So he looked at me and said “We have to go back and do this again”.
Mrs Milne told how she realised she could smell the illness from others when she attended a support group meeting. Pictured above, Mrs Milne at a local support group in Perth with John Skipworth who suffers from Parkinson’s
‘Being the doctor, he said we have to have more proof.
‘And I went home.
‘He said, “Well?” I said, “It’s amazing – there’s all different levels, I think, but the smell is there”.
Clinicians still diagnose patients by observing symptoms, which is the same method used by James Parkinson who first established it as a recognised medical condition in 1817.
It is now hoped tests carried out using Mrs Milne’s sense of smell will establish a new system for helping potential sufferers.
Researchers found distinctive molecules concentrated on the skin of Parkinson’s patients and are close to establishing what causes the smell.
Joy’s husband Les, pictured above, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s aged 45 and died from the disease two years ago aged 65. She vowed to use her skill to help people
They hope it could lead to the first diagnostic test for the disease that effects one in 500 people, around 127,000 across Britain.
Dr Tilo Kunath, from Edinburgh University’s school of biological sciences, was one of the first scientists Mrs Milne spoke to about her smelling ability.
He enlisted the help of Professor Perdita Barran, an expert in chemical analysis from Manchester University, to try to isolate the actual molecules that form the odour that Mrs Milne is able to smell.
Dr Kunath said: ‘She was telling us that this individual had Parkinson’s before he knew, before anybody knew.
‘So then I really started to believe her, that she could really detect Parkinson’s simply by odour that was transferred on to a shirt that the person with Parkinson’s was wearing.’
Joy pictured with her husband Les while he was fighting Parkinson’s disease. He died two years ago after suffering from the condition for 20 years
Prof Barran and her team found that people with Parkinson’s seem to have some different molecules from non-sufferers.
Prof Barran said: ‘It is very humbling as a mere measurement scientist to have this ability to help find some signature molecules to diagnose Parkinson’s.
‘It wouldn’t have happened without Joy.
‘For all the serendipity, it was Joy and Les who were absolutely convinced that what she could smell would be something that could be used in a clinical context and so now we are beginning to do that.’
Mrs Milne’s last promise to her husband was that she would investigate her special ability and how it might help others.
She added: ‘We were married for 42 years when he died.
‘So I don’t want other families to have the same experience.
‘I want relief for them – I want to see a better understanding within medicine.
‘A better education for the general public.
‘And the hope that with early diagnosis, there is going to be treatment.’