Anyone following the Belle Gibson/ The Whole Pantry saga? UPDATE: Gibson says she lied

[unsinkable]

https://www.yahoo.com/health/belle-gibson-apple-iwatch-consultant-and-wellness-113338690822.html

 

"At first glance, the story of Belle Gibson is miraculous. A 26-year-old single mother in Melbourne, Australia, Gibson was diagnosed with malignant brain cancer six years ago.

 

She spurned conventional cancer treatment and self-treated her disease with healing foods, building a media empire based on her experience. Her Instagram account @Healing_Belle, has 197,000 followers. She wrote a popular cookbook (The Whole Pantry), and developed an app (The Whole Pantry App) that Apple has displayed on iPhones and iPads in Apple stores and planned to launch on its new Apple Watch.

 

She’s told fans that she donates 25 percent of profits to local charities, and she’s become something of a champion for cancer patients worldwide.

 

The thing is, she might not actually have cancer.

 

Nor has she donated the money she’s promised to charity, Australia’s Fairfax Media reports. Last year, Gibson wrote that she had given $300,000 Australian (about $227,000 U.S.) to various charities. She now says that the money was never donated, as sales of The Whole Pantry app weren’t as high as she had expected. The Sydney Morning Herald reports, “Ms. Gibson has run two campaigns purporting to raise money for five charities, but Fairfax Media has confirmed that none has a record of receiving a donation. Four of the organizations, including Melbourne’s Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, had no knowledge fundraising drives had taken place.†"

 

There are many articles in the Australian media, too. I didn't really know which ones to link bc it is unfolding daily.

 

XXXXXXX

April 22, 2015

UPDATE: Belle Gibson: No, none of it is true

 

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/belle-gibson-no-none-of-it-is-true/story-fniym874-1227315232565

[Cinder]

I've never heard of this person but her story . . . I mean, that's a lot of cancer to spontaneously recover from.

[Guest]

I can't believe Penguin didn't fact check her story.

[TammyS]

I never heard of this.

 

I only clicked because I thought, "How can a pantry cause a saga?  I mean, a headache, sure, but a saga seems to be overdoing it.  So now I have to know."

 

[unsinkable]

It seems like there wasn't much fact-checking done anywhere...

 

Penguin says it was because it was a cookbook but I think Apple and all the local press in her country could have poked around a bit more.

[unsinkable]

I never heard of this.

 

I only clicked because I thought, "How can a pantry cause a saga?  I mean, a headache, sure, but a saga seems to be overdoing it.  So now I have to know."

 

Were you thinking weevils or pantry bugs (what are those called?)

 

Or maybe collapsed shelves?

[TammyS]

Were you thinking weevils or pantry bugs (what are those called?)

 

Or maybe collapsed shelves?

 

Well, I was thinking about how as moms we open the pantry and there's lots of stuff and nothing to eat.  Or how some people go on buying sprees of something on sale and stock up, so that's the only thing you get to eat for 6 months, or I dunno.  But saga seemed a lot for home food issues. 

[Sun]

Oh my! When I clicked over here, I thought you were referring to the Australian woman with bone cancer in the shoulder area who received a lot of publicity for her attempts to defeat cancer naturally. She died recently, and I worry that cases like the one you linked may lead others like her to avoid conventional treatment at a potentially very high cost.

[Catwoman]

Imagine if that young woman had used her ingenuity and intelligence to do something good, rather than to scam people.  It took a lot of effort to concoct her stories and start her phony charities!

 

What really disgusts me is that not only did she feign having a dreadful disease; she claimed to have cured herself of it. It is horrifying to think that other cancer patients may have abandoned their conventional treatments to try to cure themselves as she claimed to have done.

 

If this whole thing was as big a scam as it appears to have been, I hope Belle (or whatever her real name turns out to be) ends up in prison --  even if the only thing they can get her on is tax fraud.

[unsinkable]

Oh my! When I clicked over here, I thought you were referring to the Australian woman with bone cancer in the shoulder area who received a lot of publicity for her attempts to defeat cancer naturally. She died recently, and I worry that cases like the one you linked may lead others like her to avoid conventional treatment at a potentially very high cost.

 

Yes, that story is heartbreaking. There are other people in the 'blog business' who have made connections with Jess Ainscough (Wellness Warrior) and Belle Gibson...both of them telling or implying how their clean diets were healing them of cancer.

 

Ainscough did have cancer but now people are questioning Gibson.

[unsinkable]

I've never heard of this person but her story . . . I mean, that's a lot of cancer to spontaneously recover from.

 

I agree. 

[unsinkable]

Imagine if that young woman had used her ingenuity and intelligence to do something good, rather than to scam people.  It took a lot of effort to concoct her stories and start her phony charities!

 

What really disgusts me is that not only did she feign having a dreadful disease; she claimed to have cured herself of it. It is horrifying to think that other cancer patients may have abandoned their conventional treatments to try to cure themselves as she claimed to have done.

 

If this whole thing was as big a scam as it appears to have been, I hope Belle (or whatever her real name turns out to be) ends up in prison --  even if the only thing they can get her on is tax fraud.

 

I know...the thing is, the charities were REAL. She said she would donate a percentage of her profits to certain existing charities. But most of the charities had no knowledge of her promises and didn't receive any donations from her.

 

If she goes to prison (or even if she doesn't), I feel sorry for her little boy.

[Catwoman]

I know...the thing is, the charities were REAL. She said she would donate a percentage of her profits to certain existing charities. But most of the charities had no knowledge of her promises and didn't receive any donations from her.

 

If she goes to prison (or even if she doesn't), I feel sorry for her little boy.

 

I do, too.  :(

 

[TechWife]

Dr. Phil came and picked her up from her house and diagnosed her with cancer??? That's unique.

[FloridaLisa]

Weren't there people in her life that would have provided accountability? Family or friends or support groups? She must have been quite unattached. 

 

Lisa

[Catwoman]

Dr. Phil came and picked her up from her house and diagnosed her with cancer??? That's unique.

Apparently, it wasn't the Dr. Phil, but was just some random Dr. Phil, who had no last name, yet she went off with him in his car after he picked her up at home.

 

Totally plausible. Happens all the time. :rolleyes:

[Guest]

Some people will do anything for money and a bit of attention. Poor little boy!

[sewingmama]

Imagine if that young woman had used her ingenuity and intelligence to do something good, rather than to scam people. It took a lot of effort to concoct her stories and start her phony charities!

 

What really disgusts me is that not only did she feign having a dreadful disease; she claimed to have cured herself of it. It is horrifying to think that other cancer patients may have abandoned their conventional treatments to try to cure themselves as she claimed to have done.

 

If this whole thing was as big a scam as it appears to have been, I hope Belle (or whatever her real name turns out to be) ends up in prison -- even if the only thing they can get her on is tax fraud.

A mum from our homeschool groupb recently passed away from leukemia. She was only diagnosed just after Christmas. She refused conventional treatment wanting to try natural therapy's first. She passed away so quickly after diagnoses... I wish she would have tried conventional medicine first...might have given her longer time at least. It just seems not very common to pass away so quickly... I know someone else with terminal stage 4 cancer...who has so far lived an extra year and a half past her expected time using conventional medicine... it's extreme cancer she has but she has gotten so much more time with her family.

 

Anyway, after the first lady passed away her DH was telling people at our group the treatments they tried and even though she died and died quickly they were all agreeing that alternative was the best thing to do ...I said nothing...just felt bad for her two young boys. I hate that they even had to make that decision in the first place...but I really wish people would stop trying to influence people into forgoing scientific treatments rather then trying something they found on the net.

[Sun]

A mum from our homeschool groupb recently passed away from leukemia. She was only diagnosed just after Christmas. She refused conventional treatment wanting to try natural therapy's first. She passed away so quickly after diagnoses... I wish she would have tried conventional medicine first...might have given her longer time at least. It just seems not very common to pass away so quickly... I know someone else with terminal stage 4 cancer...who has so far lived an extra year and a half past her expected time using conventional medicine... it's extreme cancer she has but she has gotten so much more time with her family.

 

Anyway, after the first lady passed away her DH was telling people at our group the treatments they tried and even though she died and died quickly they were all agreeing that alternative was the best thing to do ...I said nothing...just felt bad for her two young boys. I hate that they even had to make that decision in the first place...but I really wish people would stop trying to influence people into forgoing scientific treatments rather then trying something they found on the net.

 

:iagree:  Those poor children, and her poor DH. Stories like that break my heart. I have a cousin who died of cancer. She's actually included in the survival statistics because she made it more than 10 years, but it still killed her in the end, after 12 years. But those were TWELVE YEARS that she got to be with her family. It meant that her children were old enough to remember her well. It meant that she had time to think about how she wanted them to remember her and what lessons she needed to pass on. If she'd passed on treatment or just tried alternative treatments, would she have gotten those 12 years? Her initial prognosis at the time of diagnosis was less than 6 months to live, so probably not, which means her younger kids would barely have remembered her.

 

People who scam cancer patients are truly despicable.

[unsinkable]

UPDATE: None of it is true...

 

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/belle-gibson-no-none-of-it-is-true/story-fniym874-1227315232565

[Guest]

Shocker?

[Happy]

A mum from our homeschool groupb recently passed away from leukemia. She was only diagnosed just after Christmas. She refused conventional treatment wanting to try natural therapy's first. She passed away so quickly after diagnoses... I wish she would have tried conventional medicine first...might have given her longer time at least. It just seems not very common to pass away so quickly... I know someone else with terminal stage 4 cancer...who has so far lived an extra year and a half past her expected time using conventional medicine... it's extreme cancer she has but she has gotten so much more time with her family.

 

Anyway, after the first lady passed away her DH was telling people at our group the treatments they tried and even though she died and died quickly they were all agreeing that alternative was the best thing to do ...I said nothing...just felt bad for her two young boys. I hate that they even had to make that decision in the first place...but I really wish people would stop trying to influence people into forgoing scientific treatments rather then trying something they found on the net.

 

Steve Jobs spent the first nine months after his cancer diagnosis doing alternative treatments. Those nine months allowed his cancer to spread throughout his body. By the time he switched gears, it was a losing battle. Who knows how much longer he might have lived had he done conventional treatment.

 

I tell that story to anyone who suggest alternative treatments...I figure Steve Jobs had the dollars and resources to get the best alternative care around and it did nothing to stop his disease.  

 

It was also a kick in the pants for me. I found myself musing after his death in the fall of 2011 that it was so sad he didn't take part in modern medicine. Then I realized I was doing the same thing by avoiding mammograms. Yikes! I scheduled a mammo and was diagnosed with breast cancer in December that year.  Thanks, Steve, for knocking some sense into my head.