Grandma's labradoodle kept pressing his snout into her armpit. Doctors found 3 cancerous growths
'He wasn’t trained to find cancer, and I wasn’t around him every day. But somehow, he found it in me'
74-year-old Karen Daggett was on a family vacation in Louisiana, playing cards with her family, when her labradoodle named Zeki kept nudging her armpit with its snout. Zeki had been with her since it was a puppy, but it hadn’t done anything like this before. Curious, the Chicago Heights resident massaged that area on her arm and noticed a lump. When she showed the lump to the doctors, they diagnosed her with an aggressive cancer. Today, Daggett thanks the dog who saved her life and brought her back from the throes of death, as she recalled in a September 2, 2026, report by ABC 7 Chicago.
More than just a pet
Zeki was never trained to detect medical conditions, but it was probably its extraordinary sense of smell that detected the organic volatile compounds associated with cancer inside Daggett’s body. Zeki was the dog of Daggett's granddaughter Anastasia Shriver, a professional handler who trained Zeki to visit older adults in nursing homes. “He wasn’t trained to find cancer, and I wasn’t around him every day,” Daggett said. “But somehow, he found it in me.”
Plus, Daggett was already driven by caution ever since she got a malignant mole removed from her right forearm in 2001. According to an interview with Patch, she visited doctors for regular screenings and checkups. "Had it not been for Zeki, I don't know how long it would have been before I learned I had it," Daggett said. After a mammogram and ultrasound, doctors detected three cancerous growths in her lymph nodes and diagnosed her with melanoma, a deadly form of cancer. She underwent surgery to get 17 lymph nodes removed, followed by an immunotherapy treatment. Zeki, meanwhile, passed away due to spleen cancer.
Dogs can sniff cancers
This is not the first time a dog has detected cancer. In fact, in a study published in the journal Cancers, researchers found that dogs successfully detected lung cancer in patients with a diagnosis rate between 71.3% and 97.6%. Among 79 patients, there were 53 cancer patients. Dogs used exhaled gases in their breath to diagnose lung cancer patients with a rate of 15.5% to 40.9%. In Daggett’s case, while Zeki wasn’t trained to detect cancers, its extraordinary sniffing detected it anyway.
Seek immediate attention
Dr. Ari Seifter, the Advocate Health Care oncologist who treated Daggett, later explained that the most important part of her story is that Daggett took the cues and sought medical attention immediately. "Whether a person notices a lump on their own or someone else brings it to their attention, the key is to have it evaluated immediately," Seifter said. "Karen acted quickly, and that's what led to her timely diagnosis and treatment. Any new lump, swelling, or unusual change in your body should be checked.”
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