Support for cancer-detecting dogs

To the editor:

Ovarian cancer is such an insidious disease. It is incumbent on all of us to seek research and validate early detection. The Cancer Scent Research Project led by Marilyn Olson Neville and supported by Dr. Myers of Auburn University wants to aid in validating the proposition that dogs are able to scent out cancer before standard tests reveal it. Callie Clark Miller's article in Sunday's paper should be viewed as a challenge, a beacon to those of us who have survived cancer and/or will be affected by a loved one's cancer, which is all of us. Dogs have saved lives by honing in on moles, breasts and urine with cancer cells, both anecdotally and in blind trials. Let's get on board, people. We who are volunteers are willing to do the training and the work, but we need the support of our medical community and patients for samples. Help us, help all of us.

ROBERTA BEACH, Cape Girardeau