Rachel Moore says believing you more than medics could be fatal

It’s how brands sell today; via celebrities or ‘influencers’ spouting on social media the life-changing effects or properties of potions, lifestyles and diets.

When the rich and famous – or those with umpteen thousand followers – talk, people believe, however ridiculous their claims might be.

So, when former supermodel Elle Macpherson said in a magazine interview that she is in remission from breast cancer by self-healing, red flags fly.

She told how she refused chemotherapy , instead heading to a beach in Miami, prayed, and chose an “an intuitive, heart-led, holistic approach” to her cancer and is now “in utter wellness”

I’m all for positive thinking, flower oils, clean diet and even questioning medical professionals, but peddling this self indulgent bunkum is dangerous.

She isn’t encouraging others to follow her, but her Russian roulette approach will influence others because she took the punt not to have the follow-up medical treatment to stop any potential spread and got lucky.

Breast cancer is highly complex, with multiple types, strains and grades.

Every case is different. Several close friends have had treatment in the past couple of years and each type, case and treatment has differed dramatically.

Believing you know better than medical professionals can be a fatal game.

McPherson was diagnosed with “HER2 positive oestrogen receptive intraductal carcinoma” after a lumpectomy seven years ago.

Doctors suggested a mastectomy with radiation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, plus reconstruction of her breast.

But she chose to forgo conventional medical treatments.

She told Australian Women’s Weekly she dug “deep in my inner sense to find a solution that worked for me . . . I realised I was going to need my own truth, my belief system to support me through it.”

Turning to her doctor of “naturopathy, holistic dentist, osteopath, chiropractor and two therapists”, she spent her days “focusing and devoting every single minute to healing myself”. Not all her family supported her decision.

Thankfully, she is well but we all know that some alternative therapies are money making schemes and not proven to work in scientific studies or clinical trials.

When people have cancer they want to try anything to make it go away. It is terrifying time and sufferers are vulnerable, desperate and seeking a miracle.

Responsibility comes with celebrity and the effect of their words on those without their privilege should be paramount.

The audacity and brazenness of people’s behaviour swerving accountability never ceases to amaze.

This week Viscountess Hinchingbrooke, aka Julie Montagu, launched her own whodunnit after her 10-year-old pet Indian runner duck, Quackers, was attacked in the gardens of her Mapperton House by a small brown and white terrier, whose owner wrung its neck and tossed it like rubbish into long grass, all witnessed by an estate gardener.

She explained in the radio this week that it wasn’t the death that prompted her mission to track down the woman but her actions not to own up, take the injured duck for help and alert anyone on the estate.

To make it worse, the woman was with a small boy. Her dog was off its lead.

The Viscountess wants an apology , an explanation – and even another duck - from the “duck strangler”.

She has received 2,000 messages and emails and been sent “a handful” of suspects as she put out new details about the “appalling” attack.

Livestock attacks in our counties are rife as clueless dog owners leave dogs to run wild with no consideration to livestock around. Dogs follow their  instinct and a lack of training

“The ducks are part of the fabric of the estate, and Quackers in particular, because he had been there for ten years and he was the leader of the pack. The other runners were always following him, and they really were the three musketeers, and it’s just quite sad.”

Hopefully, she finds the woman and names and shames

Talking of taking responsibility, a 12-year-old boy in Manchester, who a judge said played a “greater part in recent civil disorder than any adult or child” seen by judge had his sentencing delayed because his mother had flown to Ibiza on holiday on his sentencing date.

He turned up to court with his uncle.

Perhaps his uncle is the responsible one in the extended family, but we ask ourselves how children behave as they do. This mother’s priorities answers the question.

Social media influencers who film and post every aspect of their family life have come under fire from Supernanny Jo Frost.     

The parenting expert was horrified to see parents using precious family time filming reels and ‘content’ for Instagram.

"So now I'm watching 7,8,9 years olds doing back-to-school morning routine as posts! Parents, what on earth are you thinking? No Seriously? A time when family connection should be at its most highest, a smooth operation of a well-practiced routine of breakfast together, life skills accomplished, a mindset of focus and attention, and the privilege to be educated.

"It is bad enough seeing how many parents are dependent on iPads and screens in the morning as babysitters, turning into bad habits and chaotic mornings, but please, now this?"

Sadly, if there is a  prospect of getting money, products, children’s clothes, toys and holidays, there is no stopping these greedy grabbers.