r/self • u/Calm-Cucumber-252 • 5d ago

I can smell when people have cancer

Believe it or not, I can smell when someone has cancer. It is the most pungent smell ever, and only gets worse the stronger it is. As a child, my grandpa started smelling funny, and after a while he was diagnosed with cancer. The smell got stronger as his cancer did, until he passed away. I thought nothing of it until my Nan on the other side started smelling the same way, and it got stronger until she eventually got diagnosed and passed away too. That’s when I started thinking wait maybe I can smell cancer (or maybe it’s just a coincidence). I started smelling the smell at varying strengths for people in public, and always kinda thought in the back of my head oh man I think they’ve got cancer. However, it wasn’t until my OTHER granddad got cancer and had to stay in hospital and at 17 I got to go visit him in a hospice specifically for cancer patients. I could hardly walk in the building. There it was again - that SMELL! Do people secrete certain chemicals when they have cancer? I have a strong sense of smell so I could possibly pick up on it. It’s definitely not when they’re going through chemo, because I can smell it on people who haven’t started chemo yet. I am genuinely going crazy trying to find an answer. This smell is horrendous and I just don’t understand why I can smell it when nobody else seemingly can??

Edit: on a long car journey rn, feeling a bit car sick so won’t be replying to any more comments for a while. This isn’t an April fools, I’ll repost it tomorrow if u really don’t believe! Will be contacting more research places too :)

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u/ikeda1 5d ago edited 5d ago

There is a woman who can smell Parkinson's before someone is even symptomatic. She ended up connecting with researchers and they are working on isolating the exact chemical make-upshe is picking up on.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/03/23/820274501/her-incredible-sense-of-smell-is-helping-scientists-find-new-ways-to-diagnose-di

Maybe the researchers she is working with would be worth reaching out to.

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u/North_Apple_6014 5d ago

This. I would reach out to the folks who work with the Parkinson’s woman and they should be more helpful. 

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u/clappingcactus 5d ago

u/calm-cucumber-252, I can help get in touch with the original researchers that interacted with Joy Milne.

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u/DangNearRekdit 5d ago

Reddit did indeed bury this. 29 upvotes and I still had to click the + sign

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u/clappingcactus 5d ago

Alright, I pm'ed op.

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u/chuthulu_but_gayer 5d ago

Gotta update us!

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u/thisisaddictiveoff 4d ago

Yes! I need to know where this goes!

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u/nokipokr 5d ago

So cool!! I hope they research this ability!! It'd be great to learn what's going on

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u/DenizenEvil 5d ago

Might be worth PM'ing again in a week so that OP's inbox isn't being blown up by replies to the thread. This is something potentially important enough to keep trying.

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u/dyinglittlestar 5d ago

Would love to hear any updates of these later!!

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u/Icing_on_the_Trauma 1d ago

Please tell me you got into contact with this person!! I’m just so hopeful for a better world with people like this in it.