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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 […]

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

Alternative oncology versus oncology

I hadn’t planned on discussing the death of Jess Ainscough again, figuring two posts in a row were enough for now, barring new information. Besides, I was getting a little tired of the seemingly unending stream of her fans castigating me for being “insensitive” and saying it was “too soon” to discuss her death and […]

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

Aftermath: Will the “alternative health movement” learn anything from Jess Ainscough’s death?

It’s been a rather…interesting…weekend. Friday, I noted the death of Jess Ainscough, a.k.a. “The Wellness Warrior,” a young Australian woman who was unfortunate enough to develop epithelioid sarcoma, a rare cancer, at the age of 22. I’ve been blogging about her because after her doctors tried isolated limb perfusion with chemotherapy in an attempt to […]

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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. […]