I’m not at all surprised that the incredibly beautiful Australian model Elle Macpherson kept her breast cancer diagnosis a secret for seven years.
But I wish she hadn’t decided to talk about it now, or ever, because her story of how she treated estrogen receptor-positive HER2 intraductal carcinoma is reckless and unsafe in my opinion – and in my experience of going through breast cancer.
I am deeply concerned that other women may be influenced by her decision to refuse medical treatment and cure herself.
“I’m not at all surprised that the incredibly beautiful Australian model Elle Macpherson kept her breast cancer diagnosis a secret for seven years,” writes Jenni Murray.
She trusted a surgeon who would perform a lumpectomy and test the lump that had been removed to see if it was cancer. She says she was shocked, as we all are when we get the diagnosis.
However, instead of following her doctor’s advice to have a mastectomy with radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and breast reconstruction, she said no. She would heal herself with a “holistic approach.”
In an interview to promote her upcoming book Elle: Life, Lessons And Learning To Trust Yourself, the 60-year-old model, known as ‘The Body’, says she is now in clinical remission, “but I would say I’m in complete wellness… from every perspective.”
I hope he is right and that he has found a calm and peaceful way to get better. His decision to refuse chemotherapy was made after consulting “32 doctors and experts,” he says. Presumably the vast majority advised him to take an orthodox approach, but he instead followed the guidance of his “family doctor,” who specializes in “integrative” medicine, which uses a combination of holistic therapies and lifestyle changes.
I wonder if she also sought advice from Andrew Wakefield, with whom she had begun a two-year relationship at the time.
Wakefield, you will recall, was the doctor who caused much anxiety and indeed danger by arguing that the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine given to young children was a cause of autism.
I sincerely hope Elle’s theory that her body has healed itself is correct. But no one should forget that cancer has a nasty habit of showing up.
He became a staunch anti-vaxxer, but his theory was shown to be nonsense. He was struck off the UK medical register and is no longer allowed to practise conventional medicine. He might well have been a powerful influence on a lover facing the nightmare of a cancer diagnosis. I wouldn’t trust him for a second.
I sincerely hope that Elle’s theory that her body has healed itself is correct. But no one should forget that cancer has a nasty habit of appearing, reappearing and wandering around the body. It may have started in the breast and been removed, but it is a certain disease.
It can appear at any time with murderous intentions. It can be found in the spine, lungs, liver and then it tends to kill you. This is what happened to a dear friend of mine whose funeral I will attend next week.
No one should be encouraged to play around with this disease. Very few of us would have the time and money to go to Phoenix, Arizona, as Elle did, and spend eight months alone under the care of an alternative doctor, “focusing and devoting every minute to healing myself.”
I don’t want to demonise alternative medicine. I’m sure cancer patients benefit enormously from massage, relaxation and the chance to talk to experienced and understanding people. The charity Maggie’s, which offers practical and emotional support after a diagnosis, offers broad support for conventional treatment. But, let me emphasise, it is support.
In 2006, I didn’t keep my cancer a secret. I discovered the problem as a result of an inverted nipple on my right breast. As a presenter of Woman’s Hour, I had learned a lot about cancer. The nipple was a classic sign.
The tests concluded that I was stage 2 with a 3cm estrogen receptor tumor. It would have been much smaller if I had accepted the mammogram that had been offered to me a few months earlier instead of dismissing it because I was busy.
After the diagnosis, I immediately went into project mode, a state of icy calm. I had a problem that needed to be investigated thoroughly, and I needed to find the best possible person to deal with it in the hope of saving my life. I was not going to dismiss the advice of qualified oncologists.
Breast cancer is the most researched cancer in the world, thanks in large part to fundraising and advocacy by women. I knew I had nothing to fear if I put my trust in a top-notch and highly respected consultant.
I found Professor Nigel Bundred in the National Health Service in the UK, at the Christie Cancer Hospital in Manchester. I had heard from several of the cancer charities I had worked with that his bedside manner was terrible, but I didn’t care. My only concern was his understanding of the disease and his skill with a scalpel.
His reputation was false. He could not have been kinder or more understanding. I never doubted that his advice was best for me: a mastectomy, examination of the major lymph nodes in the armpit, and chemotherapy. He said radiation therapy would not be necessary.
The operation was excellent, but seeing a mutilated breast is a horror story. I had decided not to have reconstruction. The chemotherapy was indescribably horrible.
It seems completely unnatural to be sitting in a chair with a needle in your hand and a tube carrying poison into your body. It makes you sick, it makes you exhausted, it destroys your hair. But as Professor Bundred explained, the hair will grow back and the chemotherapy will travel through your body sweeping up any cancer cells that are moving around.
Almost 20 years later, I’m still here.
The breast, or former breast, remains a horror story. The hair grew back. Chemotherapy caused avascular necrosis in the hip joints, which were replaced.
I never stopped to think about it or look for the magic of holistic treatments. I trusted in science and the skill of a specialist. Good luck to Elle and her beautiful body. My priority was my life and so far, at 74 years old, it seems to have worked.
It’s time to make a decision, Harry!
Prince Harry with Meghan
What is young Prince Harry up to? He’s almost 40 now. It’s time to act like an adult.
This week, one group of friends said they were happy and settled in California; another group, the ones on this side of the pond, said they were looking for advice on how to come home, reconcile with dad and brother and get real again.
It’s time for you to make a decision. The interest in making money that you and your wife feel will not last forever and she knows it.
A drunk cyclist hit a woman in Cheshire. She was knocked unconscious, her front teeth were broken and her little finger had to be amputated. The cyclist walked away from court this week with only a suspended sentence and an alcohol badge. Cyclists should have, at the very least, a licence, insurance and lessons on the rules of the road.
Why I fought to save our library
“I’m shocked that 180 local governments have closed their libraries,” writes Jenni Murray
What are we doing with the country’s children? The unions say enough of multiplication tables and don’t worry too much about grammar.
What nonsense. Yes, it is difficult to learn these things, but children have to learn to endure difficulties and discover how useful they are. I am also surprised that 180 municipalities have closed their libraries.
That almost happened to the little boy who lives near me in North London. It is a child’s right to have a library and learn to love books. We must fight for them.
The food purists have now published evidence that eating a buttered croissant every day is bad for your heart. I don’t care, I’ve been doing it for years. I love them. And how is it possible that the French, kings of the croissant, have the lowest rate of heart disease in Europe?
(tags to translate)dailymail