Health Blogger Who Claimed Veggie-Filled Diet Cured Her Cancer Admits She Never Had Cancer

[jeff47]

Source: ThinkProgress

A popular Australian wellness blogger who rose to fame after claiming she overcome several different types of cancer with a healthy lifestyle alone is now acknowledging that her career is built on a false premise, and she never had cancer in the first place.

Belle Gibson’s holistic living brand centers on her dramatic story about how she tackled her personal medical history. Gibson claimed that, after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in 2009 and given just a few weeks to live, she withdrew from chemotherapy and beat the cancer with the help of “healing foods.” She told reporters that she believed her health issues — which she said also included subsequent diagnoses for cancers of the liver, uterus, spleen, and blood — stemmed from a bad reaction she had to Gardasil, the vaccine that protects against cervical cancer.

But when an Australian newspaper started calling Gibson’s medical history into question, her story quickly unraveled. First, she claimed she had been misdiagnosed with liver, uterus, spleen, and blood cancers, but maintained that she definitely had terminal brain cancer at one point. Then, she suggested her brain cancer diagnosis was perhaps a medical error. Eventually, she admitted that none of it was true, and said her “troubled childhood” may have led her to lie about her condition.

(...)

On the same day as Gibson’s confessional interview with Australian Women’s Weekly will hit newsstands, popular celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz, whose TV show draws millions of viewers each day, will air a special episode of his show to respond to his critics. Dr. Oz has recently come under considerable fire from doctors, academics, and members of Congress for promoting ineffective natural health remedies that aren’t grounded in scientific evidence. He maintains, however, that medical professionals need the space to explore alternative treatments that may effectively complement Western medicine.

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/04/23/3650275/health-blogger-cancer-diet/

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Details about Ms. Gibson's new-media "empire" are at the link, but won't fit in the 4-paragraph limit. She's got some very popular social media sites, a cookbook, and had an app for the new Apple Watch that was being heavily promoted.

The cookbook and app have been pulled.

[cosmicone]

1. Obviously veggies don't help with stupidity n/t

[hobbit709]

2. Candy, birth, and time.

[DeadEyeDyck]

3. number 1 way to reduce your risk to cancer?

Choose your parents wisely.

[sybylla]

4. My sister-in-law tried this crap

She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given may be 11 months if she went through chemo. She tried one round of it but had to quit half way through as it was too hard on her. She tried this stupid veggie diet and got so skinny I think it only worsened her condition and cut her short life even shorter. She grew so weak she couldn't get out of a chair and slept most of her remaining days away. We lost her in 4 months.

I knew it wasn't science based, but when you're grasping at straws, you'll try anything.

Bunch of sick fuckers who do this.

[jeff47]

6. I'm sorry.

A similar situation is why this kind of crap enrages me.

[hamsterjill]

9. I'm sorry for your loss, and I feel the same.

I think it is absolutely horrible that people try to profit in any way off of sick people's desperation.

A former next door neighbor of mine (whose abused dog I finally got possession of, I might add) swears by these diets as a cure to a cancer that she supposedly had. I've always been skeptical that this neighbor was actually physically sick at all. Mentally ill, I can vouch for, but there was always something fishy and sketchy about her cancer and her recovery. While I'm no medical expert, of course, I always felt that she invented the illness to get attention, and then had the miraculous recovery to pitch her faith based healing.

Either way, my point is that seriously ill people have entirely enough to deal with without having to wade through fads and fantasies about miracle cures, etc.

[CBGLuthier]

5. She said she did not ask for anyone's forgiveness as she was only human

Well this human has never lied about having a horrible disease in order to sell a product or for any reason so fuck her.

[groundloop]

7. Jail Time !!!

IMO this is fraud and she should be charged under all applicable laws. She definitely deserves some time behind bars to think about profiting from her lies and to consider how many victims she's hurt.

[yellowcanine]

8. Couldn't someone who bought her cookbook etc sue her for fraud?

If I had plunked down good money for her cookbook based on her claims I would be pretty pissed.

[mike_c]

10. you mean the anti-science internet health expert lied and made false claims?

I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell you!

[iandhr]

11. WTF is wrong w people