KATE EMERY: Elle Macpherson’s cancer stance is concerning, dangerous and privileged

I know of two people who opted out of chemotherapy after a breast cancer diagnosis.

One of them is dead.

The other is Elle Macpherson.

OK I don’t know Macpherson, so much as I know of her in the way we all do: the gorgeous supermodel once dubbed “The Body”, who now flogs supplements (yours for $88 per 300g).

Maybe these supplements work and maybe they don’t but the moment I saw Macpherson’s company, WelleCo, selling $55 hot chocolate — and $25 teaspoons to stir it — was the moment I started to question if her particular brand of wellness was for me.

Confirmation came when I read her company’s mission statement: “A Universal truth; our essential purpose: With wellness, you can. It’s so simple that it might easily be construed as simplistic. Yet its simplicity reveals a profound unlock.”

Take your word for it, guys.

If the wealthy and gullible think they can improve on a box of Cadbury Drinking Chocolate ($6 for 450g) I won’t stop them.

But the moment Macpherson starts to preach quackery that’s actually dangerous is when I get angry.

That moment arrived this week, when Macpherson started on a media blitz to promote her new memoir, in which she discusses her breast cancer diagnosis.

I doubt Macpherson set out to spread medical misinformation. But the way she’s been speaking about her breast cancer battle is irresponsible at best.

Tips for beating cancer include refusing to lean “into the fear and drama of the diagnosis”, “saying no to standard medical solutions” and opting for a “heart-led, holistic approach”.

(Can we get a GoFundMe started to send Macpherson to the nearest oncology ward to tell patients to stop leaning into the drama of their diagnosis? I’ve got a tenner.)

According to Macpherson she refused chemotherapy against the advice of doctors. Instead she holed up for eight months with her own team, including a doctor of naturopathy, an osteopath, a chiropractor, therapists and a holistic dentist.

(Honestly, of all my questions, none is so pressing as this: what the hell is a holistic dentist?)

Macpherson said this about her attitude: “When I was diagnosed, I had to come to terms with my own fear around it. And I got a lot of advice. I spoke to many, many doctors about the best way to treat it. And the hardest part for me was not the diagnosis (it) was figuring out what would be the best way to treat this type of cancer that I had.”

Macpherson’s comments have caused both outrage and confusion among medical experts.

Outrage because there will be ordinary punters diagnosed with breast cancer who hear Macpherson’s story and opt to forgo life-saving medical treatment in favour of whatever the hell a “heart-led, holistic approach” is (any chance it involves WelleCo-branded supplements, do we think?)

As Dr David Robert Grimes, cancer research and assistant professor at Trinity College, put it on social media: “Incredibly irresponsible from Elle Macpherson: Holistic therapy is NOT valid treatment for breast cancer. So entitled that a multimillionaire with access to best healthcare advises women to ignore medical advice. Ample evidence this bullshit kills people.”

And confusion because the standard medical procedure for the type of early stage cancer Macpherson says she had is surgery — which Macpherson had — and possibly radiotherapy but rarely chemotherapy.

Of course, most people won’t dive deep enough into this story to figure out the lumpectomy likely saved Macpherson’s life. They just might think twice if and when they face their own diagnosis and chemo is on the table.

It feels relevant to note that Macpherson’s exes include Andrew Wakefield, the disgraced anti-vaxxer struck off the medical register for his role in a discredited 1998 study that falsely claimed a link between vaccines and autism. (Should’ve stuck with Billy Joel).

There should be a special place in hell reserved for the privileged who use their platform to endanger those less fortunate.

Seven years after diagnosis, Macpherson believes she is cancer free. I sincerely hope she’s right and enjoys a long, healthy life she can dedicate to ensuring that she never finds out what it’s like to have it.