In 2021, we shared a story about medical detection dog Max, named and sponsored in memory of student Max Warr.

We've had an update from Max's mum, Sarah:

Back in 2021 I set about raising £5000 so that I could name and sponsor a medical detection puppy in memory of my son, Max.  He died aged just 13 in March 2020 after complications following elective heart surgery. The puppy that received Max’s name is a beautiful German Shorthaired Pointer … a liver one (but I prefer to call him chocolate!) And he couldn’t be more appropriate… he’s a super sniffer with a big hooter and the superpower to detect the odour of disease.

Max has been through his training and is now working with the bio detection side of the charity focusing on Parkinson’s disease. He is able to detect the distinct odour of Parkinson’s and tell his trainers which is the correct sample. Other dogs are trained to detect cancer, Addison's disease, nut allergens, malaria, pseudomonas, etc., the list is constantly expanding. Meanwhile, personal alert dogs work 1 to 1 with their owners and can alert them to epilepsy, PoTS, diabetes and anaphylaxis amongst other things. What these dogs can do is incredible and I have witnessed at first hand how a dog will nudge her owner to warn her of an impending PoTS attack. The lady lay down and fell unconscious for about 15-20 mins. The dog lay next to her and didn’t look away until the owner regained consciousness. This lady said her alert dog has changed her life. Previously she wouldn’t go out anywhere for fear of an attack but her dog has given her the confidence to do so as she knows she can make herself safe if an attack is imminent. Please visit the Medical Detection Dogs website if you are interested in finding out more about the pioneering work this charity is doing.  They are contributing massively to the research on early detection and diagnostics, including a bio-electronic nose! Millions of lives can be potentially saved.

This year is the 15th anniversary of the founding of the charity and so in February a special event was planned to mark the date. It was hosted by the Patron of the charity, HRH The Queen (formerly Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall) at Clarence House and I was lucky enough to be invited! It was a very memorable day and apart from marvelling at the surroundings and the hospitality it was an honour to meet and shake hands with The Queen and have a brief chat about my very small part in helping Medical Detection Dogs with their work. Camilla is an active and interested patron and you can tell she is a doggy friendly person by the way she interacted with the dogs that were at the event. We had a demonstration of the skills of the bio detection dogs in the grand hallway of Clarence House and there was a massive celebration cake. Both Queen Camilla and Claire Guest (the founder of the charity) gave speeches of thanks and appreciation. Claire outlined plans for the future and how these amazing dogs can continue to save lives; she herself was alerted to very early stage breast cancer by her own dog as if she needed any more proof that dogs have this incredible superpower!