Pensacola woman's dogs helped her sniff out breast cancer

Whitney Burdick has spent the last year winning a fight against breast cancer.

But without the persistent concern of her two rescued dogs Buddy, a dalmatian Pyrenees mix, and Stiel, a Labrador Great Dane mix, she may have remained unconcerned about a small lump that she noticed in her right breast last September.

Burdick had trust in her dogs awareness due to Buddy acting in a similar manner shortly before she learned that she had her second miscarriage. She believes Buddy was able to catch her miscarriage far before she did. The Burdick family have had Buddy for six years and Stiel for a year.

“I had gone in for a routine appointment and the timeframe that she estimated my losing the baby was the time he started acting strangely towards me,” Burdick said. “So now anytime he acts that way I know something’s not right and I need to get checked out.”

After the dogs began their strange behavior Burdick went to see her primary care provider, Christina Senesac, in October at Ascension Medical Group Sacred Heart Primary Care-Airport. Burdick was diagnosed with breast cancer on Nov. 18 despite having no family history of breast cancer.

Burdick chose to have a double mastectomy when an MRI later detected four tumors. During her procedure her surgeon also removed lymph nodes from under her armpits.

After the successful removal of the cancer, her medical oncologist Dr. Zachary Wright provided options for Burdick to weigh in on that focused on a long future without recurrence of cancer.

Dr. Zachary Wright, Burdick's medical oncologist, said this is not the first time in his career that someone’s animal helped make them aware of a medical issue but that Burdick’s case is uncommon due to her being younger than 40 years old. Most breast cancers are diagnosed after age 50, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Research has indicated that dogs' highly developed sense of smell can detect cancerous cells, and canines may often sniff or nudge at cancerous areas.

Burdick says that chemotherapy was rough, but that the advice given to her by other women afflicted by breast cancer as well as from Dr. Wright helped her during the sessions.

“Going into it I knew a lot of women who had been through chemo and all of them, including Dr. Wright, (said) that the way your body reacts to chemo is 80% about your mentality coming into it,” Burdick said. ”I kept that in mind and tried to keep a positive attitude. I would joke around with the nurses, offer them snacks or watch TV while I was sitting there.”

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Burdick spent her entire journey battling breast cancer at home while undergoing chemotherapy treatments at Ascension. She credits her family, church community, coworkers and the hospital’s staff for helping her keep a positive attitude despite her immediate circumstances.

Her family often sent care packages with gifts like custom-made blankets and low-sugar foods that made her journey through chemotherapy and aftercare for her surgeries more manageable. This support from her family kept the Burdicks from having to spend money on supplies to help Whitney through her journey.

Burdick’s mother also came down from North Carolina for major surgeries and to help out so that Burdick’s husband, Josiah, could go to work.

“I wasn’t alone, whatever the case may be I was not alone,” Burdick said. “I’ve been supported in ways that I never imagined I would.”

Whitney and Josiah Burdick each moved to Pensacola to attend Pensacola Christian College. They now attend church together during the weekends. Whitney says that many of her fellow churchgoers visited her at home during her journey beating breast cancer.

“The way she reacted made it all easier because she just took it all in stride, so for me I just had to keep my head,” Josiah said. “She always had a great attitude when I came in, by the end of it she was friends with whoever the nurse was. I think at one point they were exchanging recipes.”

Burdick has beaten breast cancer but becoming a winner in that battle is something she still has mixed feelings over.

“As much as I hate being part of that group, I also love it because it is a battle that you fight and it is not easy,” she said. “But the women who have come through it are all so strong and brave, because you’ve had to do stuff that you never wanted to or imagine you would have to.”

She says that a particular Facebook group, Breast Cancer under 40, was a safe place for her to vent, ask for perspective or even share dark humor jokes.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is coming to a close, but information, support and resources are always available at nationalbreastcancer.org/.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Breast Cancer Awareness Month dogs sniff out cancer diagnosis