I didn’t know Jess Aiscough, but I felt a kinship with her.
I know what it’s like to be young and idealistic and to sink your identity into
the belief that the universe can provide healing in the form of “natural”
remedies. I know what it’s like to want to believe that, if you eat well and
exercise, bad things won’t happen to your body. And if I had been diagnosed
with cancer at age 22, I might have taken the same path.
The same deadly, painful path.
Jess Ainscough, also known as the Wellness Warrior, was just 22 when she was diagnosed with epitheloid sarcoma, a rare form of cancer affecting the arm. The recommended treatment was a forequarter amputation, which would have removed her entire arm and upper shoulder to eliminate the cancer. It’s not a surgery that I think any 22-year-old would want to accept if there was any other alternative. Jess was duped into trusting the alternative.
Epitheloid sarcoma grows slowly, so Jess’s combination of ineffective treatments, including the notorious Gerson therapy, gave her the illusion of working. She wrote books, appeared on television, and gave interviews about how she was thriving despite her cancer.
When Jess’s mother died of breast cancer a year and a half ago, while pursuing all the same “alternative” treatments that Jess herself was using, it was something of a wakeup call to Jess. She eventually reported, two months before her death,
"This year absolutely brought me to my knees. I've been challenged, frightened, and cracked open in ways I never had before. After my mum died at the end of last year, my heart was shattered and it's still in a million pieces... For the first time in my almost seven year journey with cancer, this year I've been really unwell."
She went on to essentially admit that she had been wrong to pursue alternative medicine and that she should have trusted oncology from the beginning:
"I believe that as a result of my willingness to stop controlling my healing path and surrender to whatever the universe has up its sleeves for me, I've attracted the most amazing healing team. I'm working with an oncologist who is kind, caring, and non-judgmental-- completely unlike the [naturopathic] specialists I worked with in the early days of my journey. When we are open and in a state of surrender, the right people/situations/tools will appear. Final decisions and plans are now in process and I'll keep you in the loop in the new year."
Two months later, a memorial was posted on her website, stating, “After 30 years, 7 of which were spent thriving with cancer, Jess Ainscough peacefully passed away.”
I feel a deep sense of anger for whoever posted her memorial. Jess was clear, in the end, that she was not thriving and had made a fatal and horrible mistake, yet the person who was left in charge of preserving her memory still clung to the dangerous alternative-medicine ideals that led Jess to an early and preventable grave.
Rest in Peace, Jess. I sincerely hope that, if nothing else, your tragic story is able to save others.
The same deadly, painful path.
Jess Ainscough, also known as the Wellness Warrior, was just 22 when she was diagnosed with epitheloid sarcoma, a rare form of cancer affecting the arm. The recommended treatment was a forequarter amputation, which would have removed her entire arm and upper shoulder to eliminate the cancer. It’s not a surgery that I think any 22-year-old would want to accept if there was any other alternative. Jess was duped into trusting the alternative.
Epitheloid sarcoma grows slowly, so Jess’s combination of ineffective treatments, including the notorious Gerson therapy, gave her the illusion of working. She wrote books, appeared on television, and gave interviews about how she was thriving despite her cancer.
When Jess’s mother died of breast cancer a year and a half ago, while pursuing all the same “alternative” treatments that Jess herself was using, it was something of a wakeup call to Jess. She eventually reported, two months before her death,
"This year absolutely brought me to my knees. I've been challenged, frightened, and cracked open in ways I never had before. After my mum died at the end of last year, my heart was shattered and it's still in a million pieces... For the first time in my almost seven year journey with cancer, this year I've been really unwell."
She went on to essentially admit that she had been wrong to pursue alternative medicine and that she should have trusted oncology from the beginning:
"I believe that as a result of my willingness to stop controlling my healing path and surrender to whatever the universe has up its sleeves for me, I've attracted the most amazing healing team. I'm working with an oncologist who is kind, caring, and non-judgmental-- completely unlike the [naturopathic] specialists I worked with in the early days of my journey. When we are open and in a state of surrender, the right people/situations/tools will appear. Final decisions and plans are now in process and I'll keep you in the loop in the new year."
Two months later, a memorial was posted on her website, stating, “After 30 years, 7 of which were spent thriving with cancer, Jess Ainscough peacefully passed away.”
I feel a deep sense of anger for whoever posted her memorial. Jess was clear, in the end, that she was not thriving and had made a fatal and horrible mistake, yet the person who was left in charge of preserving her memory still clung to the dangerous alternative-medicine ideals that led Jess to an early and preventable grave.
Rest in Peace, Jess. I sincerely hope that, if nothing else, your tragic story is able to save others.
So she should have consented to having her arm and shoulder chopped off (that alone is worse than death) and then dying a slow and miserable death from more conventional "treatments."
ReplyDeletepeople thinking disabled people are worse off than dead send shivers down my spine.. ugh...
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