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Joy Milne, a 75-year-old Scottish woman born with an extraordinarily sensitive sense of smell, has the remarkable ability to detect Parkinson’s disease by scent. She’s now working with University of Manchester researcher Perdita Barran to develop a swab-based test for early detection, as part of a study funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
Milne, a former nurse, first became aware of her extraordinary gift at just 6 years old. She told her grandmother that her friends “really smell,” prompting her grandmother to reveal that this heightened sense of smell ran in their family. She later learned that the condition is called hyperosmia, and Milne embraced it as her own secret superpower.
Years later, when Milne was 28 years old, she noticed a distinct and unusual scent coming from her husband, Les Milne. She couldn’t explain it at the time, but 17 years later, her husband was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at the age of 45.
Milne’s realization became clearer years later when she accompanied her husband to a Parkinson’s support group. There, she caught the same peculiar scent from the inside of another person’s coat. That’s when she decided to reach out to professionals to find out how her ability could benefit others.
In 2013, Milne met Barran, and the two have been working together ever since. To test Milne’s claim that she could smell Parkinson’s, Barran set up a small pilot study using T-shirts worn overnight by both Parkinson’s patients and healthy volunteers. Milne sniffed each one and correctly identified all but one, mistakenly placing a control shirt in the Parkinson’s group. However, nine months later, that individual was diagnosed with Parkinson’s as well. Milne hadn’t just passed the test—she detected the disease before the doctors could.
Parkinson’s disease, which currently has no cure, is the fastest-growing neurological disorder globally and the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s. It occurs when dopamine-producing neurons in the substantia nigra, an area of the brain responsible for movement and muscle control, begin to break down. Parkinson’s is often not diagnosed until 60% to 80% of these neurons are already lost, making Milne’s ability to detect it earlier even more significant.
Thanks to Milne, Barran says she’s “very close” to developing a test for early Parkinson’s diagnosis and is currently working on a swab test in collaboration with The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. They plan to collect sebum samples from the forehead and upper back, where the skin tends to be the oiliest. Fox, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at the age of 29, explains, “We plan to determine if those with PD have a distinct sebum profile that is linked with a distinct odor profile that can be detected and identified/discriminated using proposed human/canine/analytical platforms.”
Parkinson’s isn’t the only illness Milne can detect with her keen nose. Amazingly, she claims that different conditions have their own unique smells. “I would know if someone’s diabetes was going off.” she said in an interview. “I could tell if someone was struggling post-operatively.” She adds, “The big one was walking into a Nightingale ward with 18 beds on it and smelling tuberculosis. It’s not musky like Parkinson’s. It’s more of an oily biscuit smell.”
Watch Milne’s Tedx Talk below to find out more about her incredible sense of smell.
Joy Milne, a Scottish woman born with an extraordinarily sensitive sense of smell, has the remarkable ability to detect Parkinson’s disease by scent.
The Michael J. Fox Foundation: Website | Facebook | Instagram
Source: ‘I can smell Parkinson’s’: The woman whose nose is behind an astonishing medical breakthrough
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