Cancer patients donate breath

About a year ago, when Enloe Medical Center added a canine staffer, Enloe, to its ranks, the Labrador retriever was just a puppy. He immediately began training at the In Situ Foundation’s Chico facility, where he’s been learning to detect cancer via breath and fluid samples.

Now, Enloe’s ready to move up a grade level, thanks to patients at the Enloe Regional Cancer Center, who have donated breath samples to increase his training. Since January, the center has collected 80 samples. All were provided voluntarily through a noninvasive breathing mask participants wear while answering a questionnaire.

“Without samples, we have no cancer-sniffing dog,” Daphne Zaphiris, In Situ’s founder and CEO, said in a press release, adding that “Enloe is motivated and extremely excited when he arrives at our training center to start work.”