Woman regains sense of smell after 40 years

A Norfolk grandmother has regained her senses of smell and taste and nearly 40 years.

June Blythe, 65, a keen cook, was in shock when her senses returned after surgery at a pioneering clinic.

After previous ops had failed, she did not hold much hope that the latest one would be a success.

But 10 days after the surgery she suddenly realised she could smell the lemon she was zesting to make scones - and broke down in tears of joy.

She said: "It's like I'm living in a different world. I never thought this would happen after 37 years of no sense of smell at all."

Mrs Blythe, of Taverham, lost the senses of taste and smell due to a condition called chronic rhinosinusitis in 1975.

Amazingly, she still won prizes for her cooking, and became an aromatherapist, using fragrant plant oils to improve her clients' mood and health.

She had her smell restored after a three-hour operation to clear polyps from her sinus cavities at Britain's only NHS smell and taste clinic, at the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston, Norfolk.

"During all the time that I couldn't smell I had to rely on memories to remember how things smelled and tasted. It's now like I have come out of my vacuum," she said.