Michele Smith

My hero's name is Gizmo and he is a 10-year-old very loving, devoted Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Two years ago I noticed Gizmo's behaviour change in regards to me. He would constantly follow me and sniff a particular mole on my leg. When I sat down with him, his nose would constantly go to the mole on my leg. One day I was walking to the clothes line and virtually almost tripped over him because he wouldn't leave my leg alone. This is when I made the decision to get the mole checked out.

I explained to my GP what was going on and he laughed and said it didn't look to be anything serious but he would do a biopsy to be on the safe side. Within a couple of days he called me to say it was a stage 1 melanoma and would need a rather large incision to remove. Given my doctors surprise that this was actually a melanoma I decided to get a mole map done by the New Town Skin Centre.

They have since found another stage 1 melanoma which has also now been removed. So I can thank my lucky stars that I have this beautiful boy with a well calibrated nose for his owner. He has always been protective of me and I am so grateful to all involved. I now get checked every 6 months but I can feel reassured my dog will sniff it out first.