This nurse can smell Parkinson’s disease | Joy Milne | TEDxManchester

In this talk, Joy Milne recounts the story of her incredible life: while working as an NHS nurse in Scotland, she discovered she had a true superpower. She discovered she could smell the presence of Parkinson’s Disease on afflicted people far in advance of medical diagnostics. In the case of her husband, Joy was able to detect the onset of Parkinson’s 12 years before medical science could confirm what she already knew.

Today Joy is spending her retirement working with Professor Perdita Barren at the University of Manchester Department of Chemistry to convert her superpower into a new medical diagnostic for use all over the world.

#parkinsons

Joy Milne spent her professional life in the care of others as a nurse in a Nightingale ward. But her life took an unexpected turn when she began to notice that her husband, a consultant anaesthetist, began to smell distinctly differently to her. Twelve years later he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and during a visit to Parkinson’s UK she realised other patients had the same smell. She came to realise that somehow, she could smell Parkinson’s Disease in people and detect it far earlier than the NHS.

Today, Joy is working closely with the University of Manchester and Professor Perdita Barran to better understand Joy’s incredible abilities but more importantly seek to develop a superior diagnostic that doesn’t require Joy’s personal presence. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx