Woman Who Can Smell Parkinson’s Now Helping Michael J. Fox’s Foundation

Joy Milne has an unusual gift: She can smell when someone has Parkinson’s disease. Milne discovered this ability when she smelled it on her late husband 17 years before he was diagnosed. Milne is now working with the Michael J. Fox Foundation to create a test that could diagnose patients earlier. Milne, a former nurse, says all diseases smell different. Parkinson’s smells “musky” while tuberculosis reeks of an “oily biscuit.”