On the passing of Jess Ainscough - "Wellness Warrior"

Many in the Cancer community were saddened by the news that Jess Ainscough, the Wellness Warrior has died. She was diagnosed at the age of 22 with epithelioid sarcoma and managed to keep it at bay for 8 years. Jess was well known for her blogging, and I first discovered her through her Youtube videos on how to fight cancer using alternative therapies.

Jess was a strong advocate for Gerson therapy. This involved juicing and drinking kilos of fresh, organic produce, doing coffee enemas, and strictly avoiding anything that may be tainted by chemicals. Her mother joined Jess in avoiding conventional medicine when she herself was diagnosed with breast cancer and followed the strict diet and lifestyle that Jess promoted.

Despite following the Gerson program and avoiding conventional treatments, Jess passed away in late February 2015. Her mother had passed away 18 months earlier.

I am sorry for this loss and sorry that conventional medicine proponents are using it as “evidence” that all alternative treatments look like quackery. The problem I see with this event was that Jess' approach was all-or-nothing. Instead of using her healthy lifestyle to support other conventional treatments, she turned her back on modern medicine. I can't help wondering what would have happened if she had taken the view that her alternative treatment may have been supported by conventional medicine - would the outcome have been different?

For the 30 years I have been living with tumours, natural therapies have been termed as "alternative medicine". Perhaps the problem is in the terminology. I feel that "complementary medicine" is a much better term (and is growing in use). It highlights the idea that these forms of healthy living can work together with conventional medicine and enhance the outcomes. It doesn't need to be an "either/or" debate where only one side can win.

I spent time with Ian Gawler at his retreats and reading all his books. I worked for years with Dr Ruth Cilento (Lady Cilento's daughter), a cancer specialist who used a lot of vitamins, juices etc.

I also tried Gerson therapy, but found it too hard to keep up, as I wanted to have a life AND enjoy it. I tried it a few times when I felt at a loss for something to do about my ever-increasing tumour load. It was time consuming and expensive to have to juice kilos of fresh organic vegies hourly. I could not keep it up. I do believe in doing the best we can for our bodies.... but if it is going to cost your life (in the sense of time and happiness) what is the point? If you can't travel because you have to juice, or have to follow such a strict diet that you can't go out with friends and enjoy living, then you may as well be dead.

However, I still support my body in the best way I can manage while working full time. Recently, I was still doing coffee enemas and high colonics. I don't have a problem with them like others who seem terrified of them. I also ate a 'dose' of apricot kernels everyday for years and am thinking of starting this again.

I now try to eat as many anti-angiogenic foods as I can. I am not always successful as depression often gets in the way and results in binging and drinking too much alcohol or eating too much junk food. The mental battle is as important in this fight as the physical battle. Looking at Jess' blog, she seemed to lose heart when her mother died. Perhaps that is why her cancer was able to take hold again or perhaps it was just a coincidence.

I don't know if trying to battle cancer using diets and vitamins is a waste of time and money... no-one could know. The only way anyone would be able to tell is if you took a person and cloned them multiple times, resulting in copies of the same person with the same disease, mental outlooks and health status. Using one clone per theory, you might have a chance of making an accurate assessment of what works.

I take vitamins and herbs, like turmeric. I do know that I am still alive despite having a genetic predisposition to my tumours being aggressive. Added to surgery and radiation, perhaps this all kept me alive. Perhaps it only helped to make me strong enough to deal with the many surgeries. Perhaps it is just good luck? Who knows?

One thing I do know is that it makes me feel like I am doing something to help my health and perhaps keep the tumours at bay. It makes me feel like I have some control over this. It is a way of being proactive and makes me feel that I am doing something to help myself. We know that much of being healthy starts with eating healthy foods. So, let’s not dismiss 'alternative medicines' because they don’t always work on their own. Let's embrace them as "complementary medicines" and use them to grab any opportunity that may help heal disease.