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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Naturopathy Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Jess Ainscough, Belle Gibson, and “wellness warriors” vs. cancer

Recent articles in The Daily Mail and The Australian reminded me that it’s been over a month since the unfortunate demise of Jess Ainscough, a young Australian woman who was diagnosed with an epithelioid sarcoma of her left upper extremity in 2008. Before I get to the articles, a brief recap is in order. This […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Popular culture Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Alternative cancer therapies: The quest for certainty

“I don’t want knowledge. I want certainty!” –David Bowie, from Law (Earthlings on Fire) I know I’ve already said this once, but I have to say it again, but it’s been a rather stressful week on the old blog, but I hadn’t planned on writing about this particular topic again (although I will say that […]

Categories
Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking

The Wellness Warrior, Jess Ainscough, has passed away

Two months ago, I took note of a somewhat cryptic blog post by a young woman named Jess Ainscough. In Australia and much of the world, Ainscough was known as the Wellness Warrior. She was a young woman who developed an epithelioid sarcoma in 2008 and ended up choosing “natural healing” to treat her cancer. […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Jess Ainscough finally admits her condition is deteriorating

Not being Australian and, for some reason, never having encountered her promotion of “natural health” online before, I first encountered Jessica Ainscough, also known as “The Wellness Warrior” over a year ago when I learned that her mother Sharyn Ainscough had died of breast cancer. Her mother, it turns out, had rejected conventional treatment for […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery

The Way of the Wellness Warrior: Enabled by credulous reporting

Since I’ve been complaining about credulity in the media reporting on cancer this week, in particular the way local reporters Carol Robidoux and April Guilmet published articles that were nothing more than regurgitations of propaganda from Stanislaw Burzynski, I figured I might as well go all in and finish the week out with more of […]