The woman who smelled Parkinson's
I found Joy's naive quiver intensely endearing, but I, like many others, was a little terrified of her nose. Radio journalist Alix Spiegel met Joy several years ago for an article on NPR. Alzheimer's, which Joy can detect, runs in Spiegel's family. “If she smelled it, would I be able to tell?” Spiegel wondered in her report. “How good was her poker face?” It is Joy's policy not to reveal disease odors to people she meets, and she kindly evaded Spiegel's questions. Whatever the reason, she was more direct with me. One morning, in her living room, she commented, offhand, about my "strong masculine scent."I was horrified. “I didn't mean to bring this up,” I said.“No, no, it's not like that,” Joy assured me. “It's a normal male odor, almost like salt a...