Supermodel Elle Macpherson’s recent discussion about forgoing Western medicine for ‘holistic’ healing after a breast-cancer diagnosis has restarted an old debate, about science versus ‘natural’ medicine to treat cancer and the risky status of becoming a cancer influencer in the public eye. It’s a debate that guest writer Lara Charles knows well, after she chose to forgo medication following a diagnosis of chronic blood cancer, after following the path of the late ‘Wellness Warrior’ Jess Ainscough. A year into her alternative medicine path, Lara’s cancer wasn’t going anywhere – and then, Jess died. Lara speaks to Capsule about the sense of control that the holistic path briefly gave her but also how terrifying that year was, the desperation that comes with not following doctor’s orders and why we need to stop looking at an either/or way of treatment.
Lara Charles was never someone to question the doctor’s orders. But a diagnosis in 2013 of chronic blood cancer was, she says, “like a knife cutting my life in half: life before diagnosis, and life afterwards.”
In her early thirties, with a newborn and a two-year-old, Lara was at the stage of her life where she was “dripping with young children.” A rogue blood test result after giving birth sent her to the cancer ward at Wellington hospital, as a precaution. But it wasn’t a rogue result after all; it was the reason behind so many of the strange symptoms that had plagued Lara for the previous few months.
The second shoe dropped quickly after the diagnosis: not only did Lara have chronic cancer, a kind of life-long cancer she didn’t know even existed, but it meant she would be on medication with a long list of side effects for life.
Reeling from the news, Lara said she didn’t use the ‘c word’ for a long time; when people asked what was going on with her health, she referred to it as a weird blood thing. But one day, she got a text from a friend back in Australia: “Have you heard of Jess Ainscough? Google her.”
Jess Ainscough was an Australian magazine editor who hit the headlines after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer when she was just 22. Suffering from a soft tissue cancer, doctors had recommended Jess have her arm amputated to save her life, after chemotherapy hadn’t worked. Rather than have the surgery, Jess instead followed the controversial Gerson therapy as her main source of treatment; a regime which includes daily coffee enemas and following an organic, vegetarian diet.
‘I thought maybe – just maybe – this was my way out of a lifetime tethered to medication.’
She was one of two young Australian women battling cancer who both rose to national – and then international – fame in the early 2010s. The other was Belle Gibson, a name that is now notorious with the somewhat skewed label of ‘cancer influencer’; after Belle became well-known for fighting her multiple cancer diagnosis with lifestyle choices, rather than medical treatment, only to have it then be revealed she had made up the diagnoses completely.
But Jess’ cancer diagnosis was real, and so was her decision to fight her cancer using only ‘natural’ methods. She became known as the ‘wellness warrior’, publishing books and amassing a large online following. Jess’ cancer journey struck something in Lara. This was the answer to the niggling feeling Lara had felt since her own diagnosis – confirming that there had to be another way to fight her chronic cancer diagnosis. Jess had a rare form of cancer, so did Lara. Here was an alternative path that she could try.
It wasn’t just hope that Jess was offering, Lara says, it was a sense of control. “That’s what I truly craved. Control over my fate, over my body, over my illness. I thought maybe – just maybe – this was my way out of a lifetime tethered to medication.”
When Lara told her haematologist that she was taking time to pursue other options before starting medication, he was stark with his warning. He told her it was a dangerous choice, that there was no science to back up claims that lifestyle changes would impact this chronic cancer. “All of a sudden, the world felt cruel, presenting me with an impossible choice to either accept a life dependent on medication with awful side effects or risk everything on the uncertain promise of natural healing,” she said.
Still, for a year, Lara threw herself purely into the alternative medicine path. “The deeper I immersed myself in the wellness industry, the more overwhelmed I became. The more I read about the dangers of sugar, wheat, dairy, heavy metals, fluoride, ham, chemical cleaning products – insert any carcinogen here – the more frantic I became.”
When people talk about seeking alternative treatment to cancer, it can sound very zen – Elle Macpherson recently described her decision to skip chemotherapy after a breast cancer diagnosis as “an intuitive, heart-led, holistic approach”.
This choice of language fails to grasp the utter desperation that those actually making that decision can feel. In Lara’s experience, she became “a crazed healing junkie” over that year.
The stakes could not have been higher – Lara was throwing every option she could find at the wall. “Naturopathy, energy healing, chakra cleansing, reflexology, herbal medicine, reiki – you name it, I tried it. I filled our home with organic foods, practised yoga and qi gong, and visualised a disease-free life.”
The main risk of Lara’s cancer diagnosis was stroke due to abnormal blood platelet dysfunction, and in some rare cases, she was told, it can progress to acute leukaemia.
As one concession to the Western treatment she had been recommended by her doctors, Lara had agreed to do monthly blood tests to monitor her platelet levels. That was where she could see that despite her best efforts, nothing was working. The cancer remained – and her levels were getting worse.
And then Jess Ainscough, the Western treatment-free cancer influencer, died at 30. It turned out that for Jess as well, none of those alternative cancer treatments had worked. Lara can still distinctly remember the moment she heard the news; she says that after her continuously worsening blood test results, finding out that Jess had died was the immediate “nail in the coffin” on Lara refusing to take the medication.
“I will never forget that moment – my baby was crawling around, my daughter was playing, I was reading my emails over my morning cuppa,” Lara says. “I opened the email from Jess’ fiancé, and it started with something like, ‘the world has lost one of its brightest sparks.’”
“I was just staring at my phone, going, ‘oh my god. Medicate. Medicate, NOW.’” By 9am, Lara was on the phone to her doctor, requesting the prescription for the medication that she is still taking now, one decade into her journey of living with chronic cancer.
It Doesn’t Have To Be Either/Or
Back in 2013 when Lara was first diagnosed, a holistic version of treatment was not really on offer – which is where cancer influencers like Jess Ainscough and Belle Gibson filled a vacuum, promoting alternative treatments that offered people battling cancer a sense of control in a world suddenly turned upside down.
The recent news of Elle Macpherson’s cancer diagnosis – and her decision to eschew some, but not all, types of Western medicine, has drawn a lot of criticism. Part of it is sensationalised headlines – in the original interview, Elle is clear that it was her own decision, rather than a recommendation to others.
But, when you have made your living selling ‘wellness’ as a lifestyle that requires tremendous amounts of money, time and privilege, and forgoing science in the process, it’s easy to see why her decision to talk about her choice has been controversial.
After her own experiences with following Jess’ journey, Lara says that those in the public eye do need to be more careful with how they word things, and should understand the responsibility that comes with the platform that they have.
But, Lara says, as someone who has made her peace that she will live with cancer for the rest of her life, there is value in looking outside the Western model when it comes to enduring a cancer diagnosis.
‘Western medicine was necessary to manage my cancer, while holistic remedies were essential for my quality of life.’
“The wellness practices I had learned helped me cope,” she says simply. “My naturopath’s liver-cleansing regime reduced the drug’s side effects, while wholefoods and exercise gave me strength. Meditation cleared my mind. I found a balance: Western medicine was necessary to manage my cancer, while holistic remedies were essential for my quality of life.’
It shouldn’t have to be an either/or decision, Lara says, and she believes it’s important for those going through cancer to have a wide range of options available to them. Options to both fight the cancer, through medication and life-saving treatments like chemotherapy, while also looking at alternative treatments to manage the side effects and symptoms – as well as the ongoing fear that those who have had cancer have to continue to live with.
‘Our bodies need medical intervention when faced with cancer – doctors and medication save lives. Period.’
“Cancer recovery isn’t about picking a side, or rejecting one approach for another. Healing requires us to move beyond the binaries of Western versus alternative treatment and honour the interconnected complexity of our whole being, mind, body and spirit. In order to feel whole, my physical, mental and spiritual health all had to come together,” Lara says. “Medication and holistic treatments helped give my body strength and vitality. I needed Western medicine and plant medicine, doctors and natural healers, pharmacists and spiritual guides. All of it was necessary.”
“Our bodies need medical intervention when faced with cancer – doctors and medication save lives. Period,” she says. “I’m so grateful I went through all of it to arrive at a place of immense respect and gratitude for my doctor. Equally, we can listen to doctors and eat kale. We can take medication and support our bodies, minds, and spirits in other ways. Medication stabilised my cancer. Holistic practices gave my mind and body strength. Together, they allowed me to truly live – not just survive.”
