A North Carolina attorney says her dog, a Labrador and retriever mix, detected her breast cancer, potentially saving her life. Chase Johnson, 36, discovered a lump in her breast after her dog, Ceto, began exhibiting unusual anxious behavior, according to reports.
Johnson and her husband, Ben Byrn, 48, first noticed Ceto’s strange behavior in January 2021. The normally calm dog began pacing, whimpering, and following Johnson around the house, displaying a level of anxiety uncharacteristic of his usual demeanor. “Ceto is a pretty calm dog; he never gets anxious and is always pretty chill,” Johnson told news outlets.
The dog’s anxiety escalated to the point where he repeatedly nudged Johnson’s left breast with his nose. “A couple of weeks before I found the lump, he followed me around the house, would pace the room, whimpering and became really anxious,” Johnson said. “We were trying to figure out what was going on, until he got so worked up one day and poked his nose to my breast.” The persistent nudging caused Johnson pain, prompting her to examine herself and discover the lump.
Johnson was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease requiring chemotherapy, radiotherapy, a lumpectomy, and lymph node removal. Her oncologist reportedly told her that a delay in diagnosis could have been fatal. “If he had not done that, I would not have found it,” Johnson stated. “After my diagnosis, I met with my oncologist and she told me that if I had waited until May, we would have been having a very different conversation and that I might not have survived.”
Remarkably, Ceto had previously alerted the couple to a health issue. Before Johnson’s diagnosis, Ceto displayed the same anxious behavior around Byrn, who was subsequently diagnosed with colon cancer. “Ceto had always been my little shadow; we are very much bonded together,” Johnson said. “We were trying to figure out what was going on… Because he had warned Ben that something was wrong.”
Initially, Johnson encountered skepticism from medical professionals. She was told she was too young to have cancer and that the lump was likely a benign cyst. However, she persisted in seeking a second opinion, ultimately leading to her diagnosis. “I told them that I had found a lump, but they told me I was too young for cancer. They said that cancer doesn’t hurt, so I probably had a benign cyst that would be nothing to worry about and approach back in May,” she recalled.
Johnson completed her cancer treatment and is now grateful for Ceto’s intervention. She credits her dog’s persistence and unusual behavior with saving her life.