Port Huron Woman believes rescue dog sniffed out her cancer tumor

By Bob Gross Times Herald (Port Huron) PORT HURON, Mich. (AP) -- Lisa Hulber gazes affectionately at her dog, Effie. She's always had a bond with the mixed breed, but the two have grown even closer this past year. Effie, or Effie Mae as Lisa and her husband, Scott, sometimes call her, saved the 50-year-old Port Huron resident's life. "She found my cancer," Huber said. She believes, and there's evidence she might be correct, that Effie was able to pinpoint her breast cancer even when modern medical technology could not. "She started sniffing me, and I've had mammograms and they're totally clear, and she started sniffing me this year, maybe about April, and she would not stop, kept at it, would not stop," Hulber said. "I went and had another mammogram, and there was nothing and then we had an ultrasound and we found a tumor. "After a ... biopsy they determined it was cancer." The tumor was an uncommon cancer called invasive lobular carcinoma. It had spread from her right breast to the lymph node in her left armpit. "That kind of cancer is notorious for not showing up on a mammogram," Dr. Timothy Cox, a medical oncologist at Blue Water Oncology in Port Huron said. "Instead of the most common kind of breast cancer that forms a lump, this forms a thickening of the tissues." He said most authorities recommend women start getting mammograms at the age of 40. He said there is some debate about whether women between 40 and 50 should receive annual mammograms. "If it was my wife I would be doing it yearly," he said. A study in August at a hospital in Germany with four specially-trained dogs, two German shepherds, a Labrador retriever and an Australian shepherd, found they were able to detect lung cancer. Dogs also have been trained to detect low blood sugar in children with Type 1 diabetes. Hulber said Effie has a "good nose," but she won't play fetch. She is, however, a bit of ham. Point your finger at her and shout "Bang!" and she'll roll over and play dead -- as long as there's a treat waiting. Say her name, and her tail swings back and forth like a horizontal metronome. Say "squirrel," and her ears perk up and she charges out the back door. Hulber calls her a "Heinz 57" because of the number of unknown breeds in Effie's background. "She actually is a rescue dog," Hulber said. "I got her, I started volunteering for Last Day Dog Rescue (based in Livonia), and I would take mamas and their puppies. She was a mama with seven puppies. Nobody wanted her in Ohio, and they were getting ready to gas her and all of her puppies. It was a high-kill shelter. "So we got her out and I started fostering her," Hulber said. "I got all of her puppies adopted out, but her, she had some issues. She dug holes in the yard, she used to cower around men, she would growl at children, she was just completely unadoptable, nobody would want her. "So we worked it out with Last Day Dog Rescue, and me and my husband kept her and she's actually turned out to be a great dog. I mean, I rescued her and she rescued me." Hulber has been through a double mastectomy and chemotherapy and is about to start radiation therapy. "My prognosis is good," she said. "Yeah, my oncologist says 75 percent, but through the research I've done if I could go through the radiation and chemotherapy and do everything by the book I actually have as good as a 93 percent chance." She said she's glad she took a chance with Effie "You never know who is going to be your savior," Hulber said. "Is it your doctors with all that technology, or is it going to be your dog? She's my savior." Published: Tue, Mar 20, 2012