AS someone living with secondary breast cancer, Elle MacPherson’s ‘irresponsible’ claims brought up strong and mixed emotions.
She supermodel revealed she was diagnosed with breast cancer seven years ago, but now claims to be in remission after controversially choosing to not to have chemotherapy, along with other traditional treatment options.
Instead, Elle, 60, told Women’s Weekly she rented a house in Phoenix, Arizona for eight months where she “holistically treated” her cancer under the guidance of her primary doctor and other alternative experts.
As someone living with secondary breast cancer, following a primary diagnosis in 2010, reading the articles brought up strong and mixed emotions.
I was 39 years old and had just given birth to triplets six months earlier. I put off getting symptoms checked out, putting them down to blocked milk ducts, post-pregnancy hormones or sleep deprivation.
I received a secondary diagnosis in 2014 and another recurrence in 2019.
I’m genuinely pleased for Elle and would be interested to hear more about her experience – but, chemotherapy has undoubtedly saved my life. Not once, not twice, but three times.
It’s allowed me the privilege of seeing my four babies become toddlers, start nursery, primary school, secondary school, embark on GCSE’s, leave school, go travelling and return home to devour the contents of the fridge and leave towels on the floor.
Upon reading the articles about Elle, I sent a quick WhatsApp to a group of beloved friends, all of whom have gone through their own experience of the disease.
‘What are your thoughts?’
A flurry of replies came thick and fast… ‘Triggering’, ‘Irresponsible‘, ‘What about those who don’t have the luxury of being able to focus on healing for such an extended period of time with no distractions?’
Skimming through the thousands of comments pouring in about Elle’s claims, the response was as expected – a smattering of words expressing admiration for Elle’s ‘courage’.
But also, many heartbreaking references to those who had chosen a similar ‘no chemo’ path and were now sadly no longer here, and mostly, anger at the irresponsible nature of these kind of claims.
It goes without saying that we should all have free will to decide on the treatment route we feel is right for us and it’s fantastic to read that Elle says she remains in “clinical remission” – or “utter wellness” as she prefers to put it.
A friend in her thirties chose not to have chemotherapy for breast cancer… Her choice and the subsequent heartbreaking outcome haunted me.
Emma Campbell
We’re all pleased that Elle has been fortunate to remain well and lets not forget that she did follow a partly conventional route.
She chose to have a lumpectomy which, when successful, can remove a tumour completely leaving clear margins and a lower risk of recurrence (though when followed by a course of radiotherapy the recurrence risk then falls further still).
Surely a no brainer? But hey, what do I know?
But what her claims have done is raise a bigger issue, about the enormous impact these kind of stories have on those reeling from a life changing diagnosis.
Those in a state of complete turmoil, shock and terror, confused by options (if fortunate enough to have them) in no position to seek second opinions and wondering what their chances of survival are, not which house to rent in the countryside for the best part of a year.
I’ve thought about this issue before. Years before my first diagnosis, a friend of a friend chose not to have chemotherapy for breast cancer following a mastectomy.
She was in her thirties with two young children. We never met and it certainly wasn’t for me to judge. But her choice and the subsequent heartbreaking outcome haunted me for a long time after.
A cancer diagnosis is so much more complex than the treatment that usually accompanies it, which is brutal, invasive, but hopefully life saving or life prolonging.
For the fortunate few with no financial concerns and minimal responsibilities, I guess it’s understandable that they would consider the best ‘alternative’ care they have access to.
There’s no doubt that a certain level of wealth does enable access to a whole range of ‘off label’ treatments not approved by the MRHA (FDA in the US).
But venturing down this path is simply out of the question for the majority of cancer patients.
As for seeking opinions from 32 different specialists and ignoring their advice? Wow. I’m not sure whether to be impressed or horrified.
Emma Campbell
I don’t know many people who’ve faced a diagnosis and haven’t looked at complementary therapies and implemented some lifestyle changes.
Wonderful charities like Cancer Research UK agree that complementary therapies – which are different to alternative therapies and are used alongside treatment – can ease some of the side effects of treatment and support the overall well-being of the patient, which can only be a good thing.
I’m certainly not against exploring additional ways of keeping my cancer at bay. I’m sure we’re all in agreement that a leafy green diet is less challenging on our systems than one loaded with processed and artificial foods.
Years ago, I read all about the apparent ‘miraculous’ effect that lemons can have on wayward cancer cells and yes, I can often be found squeezing the juice of a lemon or two into my pint glass of water and knocking it back, rind and all.
But when it comes to being hooked up to an IV drip and having chemotherapy pumped through my veins? Bring it on. I feel so, so lucky to have it.
Way back to that very first infusion in 2010 which resulted in the hair loss, sickness, mouth ulcers and more, I chose to see the ‘poison’ being pumped through my veins as a ‘golden elixir’.
I still feel that way today on the long term maintenance treatment that has kept me in remission for the last five and a half years.
Right from the very start, I knew I had to make a choice to view chemotherapy as the magic potion rather than a toxic poison designed to weaken me further.
That mindset has survived me well, even on the darkest days.
I devour stories of healing against the odds or ’radical remission’ and passionately believe that our thoughts, outlook and attitude all contribute hugely to our mental and physical health and yes, even our chances of beating the odds.
But where would so many of us be without the phenomenal advances in cancer treatment?
Would the beloved friends we’ve lost – including Dame Deborah James – have had those precious last few years of life if it hadn’t been for clinical trials and new treatment lines?
So yes, bring on the inner work, the healing and crucial self advocacy, but when you’ve sat in a chemo ward for as many years as I have, walked around research labs and witnessed the passion in the eyes of the scientists, researchers, oncologists and nurses…you would understand why I feel as strongly as I do.
And as for seeking opinions from 32 different specialists and ignoring their advice? Wow. I’m not sure whether to be impressed or horrified.
Many would also be interested to know what Elle’s choices might have been had she been told on diagnosis that her cancer was ‘de novo’ – meaning it had already metastasised.
As one of the 61,000 women in the UK living with secondary breast cancer, surely the headlines we’re all longing to see are those celebrating the long overdue approval for life prolonging drugs like the recently denied Enhertu.
Dame Deborah James spoke of the barrage of ‘advice’ about alternative cancer therapies she was exposed to during her five-year cancer journey.
The mum-of-two was told she had incurable bowel cancer in December 2016 and, after extensive treatment to prolong her life, died in June 2022, aged 40.
The Sun columnist wrote in 2019 that she recieved an onslaught of emails claiming alternative therapies would cure her.
You can read her column here, or an extract below:
“In my mission to raise awareness about cancer – and how to do everything in your power to avoid it – there are some lines I won’t cross.
“When it comes to treating my cancer, I stick to the rules (mostly, give or take a glass of wine or two).
“I am lucky to have a wonderful team of heroic medics keeping me alive. And I hang off their every word.
“Tell me to run, I run. Tell me to have chemo, I have chemo. Tell me they want to lodge gold bullets in my tumour before zapping me with a giant CyberKnife machine, and I’m in. No questions asked.
“Yet every single day I get emails asking me if I’ve tried the latest ‘alternative’ treatment.
“Think celery juice, turmeric shakes, vegan diets… the list is endless.
“Then there are the emails warning me of the harm and damage I am doing to my body by choosing conventional – scientifically proven – treatment.
“This ‘abuse’ comes from a small but noisy smug ‘I beat cancer’ brigade – and, honestly I have no time for them.
“In most cases this advise comes from people who really, truly believe the strategy has worked for them.
“Don’t get me wrong, I know there are some treatments that we don’t yet know enough about, our gut microbiome and medicinal cannabis, to name a couple.
“I’m not a doctor or a scientists. But I spend a lot of time with both.
“The research is happening now, and in many cases it shows real potential.
“But scientific studies happening now won’t become approved treatment for years – and for GOOD reason.
“I would do anything to cure my cancer, I would move heaven and Earth to be rid of it.
“At my most vulnerable I know I would’ve been tempted by these wild claims. I wanted to hang on to any shred of hope.
“But these claims that alternative treatments “cure” cancer are dangerous. People die believing them.”
