Jessica Ainscough

Jessica Ainscough (July 1985 – 26 February 2015) was an Australian teen magazine editor who became a writer and wellness entrepreneur following a rare cancer diagnosis at the age of 22 years. Ainscough went by the self-coined nickname "The Wellness Warrior" and used her popular blog by the same name to share her personal story of using alternative cancer treatments. Ainscough died of her untreated cancer at the age of 29.

Ainscough and her partner Tallon Pamenter were engaged in July 2014, and had planned to marry in September 2015.

In December 2014, Ainscough wrote in her blog that she had returned to conventional medical care to treat a large fungating tumor under her left shoulder that had been bleeding non-stop for ten months, leaving her weak and uncomfortable. Under the care of an oncologist, Ainscough received six weeks of radiation therapy in the final weeks of her life.

In April 2011, Jessica's mother, Sharyn Ainscough, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Sharyn also refused all conventional treatment instead opting to join her daughter in Gerson Therapy. Sharyn Ainscough died in October 2013, two and half years after diagnosis, in line with expectations for untreated breast cancer. At the time of her death, it was widely reported that "Sharyn, followed her daughter in advocating Gerson therapy after being diagnosed with breast cancer".

Ainscough claimed that Ian Gawler's book, You can Conquer Cancer, was a major influence on her when she was initially diagnosed with cancer. Immediately before going to the Gerson clinic in Mexico in 2010, Ainscough and her partner Tallon Pamenter stayed at The Gawler Foundation. Afterwards, Ainscough wrote: "Last month I spent 10 days at the Gawler Foundation in Melbourne learning all about how to heal myself. It was the most beneficial 10 days of my life". Gawler Foundation founder Ian Gawler is a former Veterinarian who survived cancer after surgical treatment, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. Gawler claims to have overcome a secondary diagnosis of terminal metastatic cancer with a combination of Gerson Therapy and meditation. However, there was no biopsy taken to confirm the secondary cancer diagnosis, and experts have since attributed Gawler's symptoms to advanced tuberculosis—which he also received medical treatment for at the time—rather than secondary bone cancer.

Ainscough was diagnosed with epithelioid sarcoma on April 24, 2008 following a biopsy of lumps removed from her left arm and hand. From the initial diagnosis, Ainscough recalls being informed that epithelioid sarcoma was an extremely rare cancer and difficult to treat. The incidence of epithelioid sarcoma was reported as 0.4 cases per million in 2005. It is twice as likely to occur in men, and three quarters of those diagnosed are between the age of 10 and 39 years. Although epithelioid sarcoma is less common in women, the prognosis has been reported to be more favourable. Surgical oncologist David Gorski has written that without treatment most succumb to the disease within 10 years, however with surgical resection the 10-year survival rate is estimated to be 49-72%, with higher survival rates reported in younger patients such as Ainscough.

Initially, the only treatment offered to Ainscough was an amputation of the affected arm at the shoulder, known as a forequarter amputation. Ainscough reluctantly agreed, however, shortly before the scheduled surgery her medical team offered an alternative treatment which was to have an isolated limb perfusion. Ainscough consented to chemotherapy and had the procedure in June 2008. The initial scans following chemotherapy showed that the cancer was in remission, however, by November the following year the cancer had returned, and the only treatment option was a forequarter amputation. Ainscough refused to have the amputation, and instead turned to alternative cancer treatments.

Jessica Ainscough was born in Australia in the South East Queensland city of Ipswich. Ainscough attended Sunshine Coast University, graduating in 2005 with a Bachelor of Communications, majoring in Journalism. During her last year at university, Ainscough gained work experience at the Sydney office of 9 to 5 Magazine where she had her first job after graduating. At the time of her diagnosis, Ainscough was working as an online editor for teen magazine Dolly.