Cancer patient's powerful lesson about life breaks Aussies' hearts as she publicly reveals she's been given months to live: 'Things that end up being the biggest of all'
Anna Tarrant, 41, has spent weeks in hospital and is now confined to a wheelchair, requiring 24/7 care.
The Sydneysider was a fit and healthy 26-year-old when doctors first found a cancerous tumour the size of a small lemon on her brain in October 2010.
She has since undergone five major brain surgeries, radiotherapy, and countless stints of chemotherapy and treatment.
With her cancer now immune to chemotherapy, Ms Tarrant's hopes of beating cancer were dealt a cruel blow last month when doctors took her off a trial drug, leaving her with no more treatment options.
She took to local Facebook page Mosman Living to share confronting details of the setback and seek advice as she prepares for the inevitable.
'I was informed there's nothing they can do for me anymore, my cancer is just too aggressive and the cells are growing way too quickly,' she wrote.
'I've been given months to live and I've never felt so scared or alone.
'My heart has shattered into a million pieces,' she said, revealing she had an 'extremely short life expectancy of months'.
She shared a powerful lesson for the community where she's lived her entire life.
'Life is too short and in the end it's the little gestures and things that end up being the biggest of all,' she said.
'Enjoy every moment of sunshine in our little slice of heaven and try and focus on what you do have, not what you don't.'
The candid post was inundated with hundreds of messages of support and advice from Mosman locals.
'This is a such as honest and heartbreaking post to read,' one wrote.
Another added: 'Oh Anna, my heart aches reading your word... Thank you for your courage in sharing something so raw and real, your strength and honestly are deeply moving.'
The latest update on Ms Tarrant's GoFundMe page posted on June 17 states that she is paralysed and needs 24-7 care.
'I've always been positive, kind, generous, caring, thoughtful and loving and full of sunshine,' Ms Tarrant wrote.
'Watching your body slowly dying and failing you physically is extremely traumatic and my heart is completely broken
I have this terribly debilitating cancer that has stripped me of all my independence and is now continuing to take it away.. my heart is broken.'
Ms Tarrant previously worked high-flying corporate job but turned to volunteering after her diminishing brain function meant she could no longer handle a list of hundreds of clients.
'The thing I am most frightened of is not knowing how I am going to deteriorate,' she previously told Daily Mail Australia.
'I am so scared of losing my mental and physical capacity over time.'
More than 1,920 new cases of brain cancer are diagnosed in Australia each year, and it is the leading cause of cancer death in children and adults aged under-40.
The overall five year survival rate for all types of primary brain tumours is around 36 per cent, according to Cancer Australia.
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The Sun
7 hours ago
- The Sun
‘Anti-vax' Cambridge graduate, 23, died after refusing chemotherapy for ‘treatable' cancer
PALOMA Shemirani, who died after refusing treatment for her "treatable" cancer, told a court she was "anti-vax", an inquest has heard. The 23-year-old University of Cambridge graduate said she always turned to her mother, conspiracy theorist Kate Shemirani, first for health advice. 6 The young woman was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2023 - a type of blood cancer which starts in the lymph nodes. At the time, doctors told Paloma she had an 80 per cent chance of recovery with chemotherapy. However, she declined the treatment and suffered a fatal heart attack just months later, caused by her tumour at the Royal Sussex County Hospital (RSCH) on 24 July last year. Kate, or "Kay" Shemirani, rose to prominence on social media while sharing Covid-19 conspiracy theories, the inquest at Oakwood House in Maidstone, Kent, heard previously. In written statements submitted to the family division of the High Court in Spring 2024, Paloma said she declined chemotherapy partly because of her "background in natural healing", the inquest heard on Monday. The proceedings, which involved the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, were on the appropriateness of her care. Paloma said she was "delighted" with her alternative treatment and "sure" she would "make a full recovery" if left to continue it, the inquest was told. She also claimed her human rights had been violated by NHS practitioners in the statements, which were read by lawyer Alison Hewitt. Kay, who attended the inquest via video link, weeped and held pictures of Paloma to the camera as they were read. It said: "I am far from being a vulnerable young adult. Son of anti-vax nurse being probed by cops for comparing NHS medics to Nazis slams 'arrogant' mum "Apart from becoming independent after I moved to Cambridge for university, I have practised the same principles that I grew up with. "I have always been extremely health conscious: sticking to all-organic produce, I prepare all my own meals and I absolutely do not drink or cook with tap water. "I have never taken drugs, despite pressure to, and I rarely drink alcohol. "If I became ill, I've always turned to my mum first for advice as she is a trained nurse and qualified nutritionist. "Practically fanatical about my health, my close friends know me as a staunch advocate for all proven natural healing". She also described her mother as "an extremely forceful advocate for natural health" who is "misquoted" by people claiming "those natural solutions are conspiratorial". 6 6 6 Kay was struck off as a nurse in 2021, with a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) committee finding that she had spread Covid-19 misinformation that "put the public at a significant risk of harm", the inquest heard previously. Paloma's brothers, Gabriel and Sebastian, claim she was influenced by the beliefs of their mother. Kay blames doctors for her daughter's death. Another statement in Paloma's name added "my friends know me as a staunch advocate of the Gerson therapy" and that she is "anti-vax". She said she had been using Gerson therapy as one mode of treatment on the advice of her mother's ex-fiance, Doctor Patrick Villers, and that at 15 years old she spent three weeks in his camp in Mexico where it was practised. Gerson therapy involves a strict organic vegetarian diet and enemas and has been used in cancer treatment. Though Cancer Research UK says that there is no scientific evidence it can be used as a treatment for cancer. Fears of infertility Her GP was also monitoring her blood and progress, she said. The former Cambridge student went on to deny having the disease and said "I was not diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma... I have never had a shadow on my lung, this is absurd fantasy, no proof". She described the diagnosis as "suspected and unconfirmed", and said a "differential diagnosis" only meant cancer could not be ruled out. Paloma understood that she had a one in five chance of surviving the commonplace R-CHOP treatment that was offered, and feared it would likely make her infertile, the inquest heard. "I do not want to undergo such a harsh treatment that could even kill me when there is a possibility this is not cancer", she said. The High Court statement alleged multiple violations of human rights in her care, the inquest heard, including Articles 3, 6 and 8 and possibly Articles 1, 5 and 12. "I am so shocked, as are others assisting me, especially my mother, that this could take place today", the statement said. "These were put in place forever to prevent what Dr Mengele did in the second world war. How could this happen today?", it continued. Notorious Nazi doctor Josef Mengele performed experiments on his victims in Auschwitz. 6 The patient said symptoms she presented in hospital with - including a swollen face, excruciating chest pain being unable to move her arm - had subsided. Questions designed to waste time Coroner Catherine Wood reprimanded Kay multiple times during proceedings. Kay cross-examined Dr Amit Goel, a consultant histopathologist at Maidstone Hospital who carried out a biopsy. She repeatedly put to him that insufficient tissue was taken to carry out a FISH test that could rule out other diseases and alter Paloma's treatment plan. The doctor denied that this would have influenced Paloma's care multiple times. The coroner told Kay the inquest is trying to look at "how Paloma came about her death" but "you are apparently trying to get information which is incorrect, factually incorrect, in the statements you are making". "I think your questions are just designed to take up time and delay matters by the way you're asking them repeatedly," she added. The mother accused participants of mis-pronouncing her name. This eventually led Ms Wood to say: "I am going to rise, for Ms Shemirani to reflect on her behaviour in court, this is unacceptable. "Let's have a pause for tempers to die down because you are clearly becoming over-fixated on a detail." At the opening of the hearing Kay made an application for a lawyer to recuse herself. To recuse means to step down or be removed from a case due to a possible conflict of interest, bias, or other valid reason. The coroner rejected the application and said had seen the "hundreds of emails that have been sent in" and that "you have requested that everybody recuse themselves at various times", including the coroner herself. The inquest continues. What is Gerson therapy? Gerson therapy is an alternative cancer treatment. It involves a strict plant-based diet, daily coffee enemas, and high doses of supplements and juices. It was developed in the 1920s by Dr Max Gerson, who claimed it could detoxify the body and boost the immune system to fight disease. However, there is no scientific evidence that it can treat cancer or its symptoms, according to Cancer Research UK. As well as this, the side effects can be extreme and harmful. This is because coffee enemas remove a lot of potassium from your body which can cause infections, dehydration, fits, constipation, heart issues, lung problems and even death. Other side effects include loss of appetite, diarrhoea and sickness, abdominal cramps, aching, fever and sweating, cold sores, dizziness and weakness.
The Guardian
9 hours ago
- The Guardian
The right wants to kill off the NHS. Striking doctors are playing into their hands
There were no pickets when I set out at the weekend to talk to striking doctors. Not even at St Thomas' hospital, a prime site opposite the Houses of Parliament, or at Guy's at London Bridge. 'It's a bit sparse,' said the duty officer from the British Medical Association, the doctors' union. The British Medical Journal (owned by the BMA but with editorial freedom) ran the headline: 'Striking resident doctors face heckling and support on picket line, amid mixed public response.' Public support has fallen, with 52% of people 'somewhat' or 'strongly' opposing the strikes and only 34% backing them. Alastair McLellan, the editor of the Health Service Journal, after ringing around hospitals told me fewer doctors were striking than last time, which isn't surprising given that only 55% voted in the BMA ballot. Managers told him these strikes were less disruptive than the last ones. But even a weaker strike harms patients and pains a government relying on falling waiting lists. 'When you're operating on the margins, it takes very little disruption to send waiting lists up again,' McLellan said. Strikes are costly, since consultants have to be paid to fill shifts, which is typically more expensive. One hospital manager asked me wryly: 'Have you tried paying for an out-of-hours emergency plumber or electrician?' This time Jim Mackey, the head of NHS England, is playing it tough. He told medical directors on Monday to warn doctors that anyone striking on one of their 12 compulsory training days would forfeit their qualification – and not to let strikers take up locum shifts on non-strike days to make up for the money they've lost. No more Mr Nice Guy. Everyone employed by the NHS will get an above-inflation pay rise this year, which is less than the 5.4% (comprising a 4% rise and a consolidated £750 payment) that resident doctors will receive. Nurses and ambulance crews have just voted overwhelmingly against a pay award of 3.6%. That was only a consultative ballot, leaving plenty of time for negotiations that might avoid holding a full strike ballot. Consultants are now balloting too. These looming demands make it vanishingly unlikely that Wes Streeting will give even more money to striking resident doctors, who have already received the top NHS offer. Mackey plays the hard man, but Streeting's emollience is over. He seems indignant and offended by the BMA. His first act as health secretary was to end the resident doctors' 44 days of strikes between March 2023 and July 2024 with a generous 22% pay rise, even while the rightwing press accused him of bowing to 'union paymasters'. Making peace was his welcome political signal that the party of the NHS was setting about repairing Tory damage. There was hope for goodwill and patience from healthcare workers. So the BMA coming back for more within a year was a shock, and a slap in the face for Streeting. The BMA is kicking a government that had been well-disposed towards it. With Tory and Liberal Democrat peers attempting to block the government's radical employment rights bill, Labour's enemies will relish this timely assistance from the strike. A piece on CapX, a comment site owned and produced by the Centre for Policy Studies, called the striking doctors 'Scargills in white coats' with 'blood on their hands', which is of course the literal truth, given what they do at work (Tom Dolphin, the new BMA chair, is a consultant anaesthetist who works in trauma surgery; his job involves 'a fair amount of stabbings, occasional shootings, assaults [and] falls from height'). Keir Starmer has warned that the strikes 'play into the hands' of those who do not want the NHS to 'succeed in its current form'. Vultures are circling: Nigel Farage talks of private insurance; the International Monetary Fund, in its great unwisdom, recently suggested the better-off should pay for NHS services; while the piece on CapX echoed the right's glee at the strike: 'The problem here isn't just that the BMA is populated by socialist thugs, it's that the NHS is a socialist system.' The NHS is ever ready to rescue us all, regardless of status – that is why doctors and nurses top public respect charts, and why they have much to lose as the public turns against them. 'When the BMA asks, 'What's the difference between a Labour government and a Conservative government?', I would say a 28.9% pay rise and a willingness to work together to improve the working conditions and lives of doctors,' Streeting said in vain last week. In a timely contrast, Kemi Badenoch has declared that the Tories would ban doctors' strikes, putting them under the same restrictions that apply to police officers and soldiers. Both sides in this strike are obdurate. 'This could be a marathon. We could be doing this until Christmas or maybe beyond,' the deputy chief executive of NHS England has glumly warned. Streeting says the negotiation door is always open, but the BMA says there's no point without cash on the table. Bad blood between them springs from the negotiations: talks were going well until the BMA resident doctors' committee told its co-chairs that it could not approve the government's deal because it did not address the BMA's demand that resident doctors receive a 29% pay rise over the next few years. Yet Streeting's offer tackled serious grievances: years of bad planning left 20,000 resident doctors without specialist training places, stuck in a bottleneck that he promised to resolve. The BMA damaged people's sympathy for the doctors by absurdly comparing their pay to that of a coffee barista. Resident doctors can expect to be on a steep annual trajectory, averaging £43,400 in year one and £51,600 in year two; as new consultants they will get £105,000, while GP partners earn as much as £160,000. The word in the corridors is that the BMA is losing support across the NHS and among its own members, Nick Hulme, the CEO of the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS foundation trust, told me. He said some of his consultants had this week resigned from the BMA. So has the fertility pioneer Robert Winston. History may reassure the BMA that the public will always trust doctors over politicians. This time, the public backs those trying to cut waiting lists more than the strikers who are adding to them. Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist
BreakingNews.ie
10 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Young woman (23) who died after refusing chemotherapy ‘told court she was anti-vax'
A University of Cambridge graduate who died after refusing chemotherapy told a court that she was 'anti-vax' and always turned to her mother first for health advice, an inquest in England has heard. Paloma Shemirani (23) died at Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, England, on July 24th, 2024, after declining the treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Advertisement Her mother, Kay 'Kate' Shemirani, rose to prominence on social media while sharing Covid-19 conspiracy theories, the inquest at Oakwood House in Maidstone, Kent, heard previously. In written statements submitted to the family division of the London High Court in Spring 2024, Paloma said she declined chemotherapy partly because of her 'background in natural healing', the inquest heard on Monday. The proceedings, which involved the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, were on the appropriateness of her care and Paloma said she was 'delighted' with her alternative treatment and 'sure' she would 'make a full recovery' if left to continue it, the inquest was told. She also claimed her human rights had been violated by healthcare practitioners in the statements, which were read by lawyer Alison Hewitt. Advertisement Ms Shemirani, who attended the inquest via video link, weeped and held pictures of Paloma to the camera as they were read. It said: 'I am far from being a vulnerable young adult. Apart from becoming independent after I moved to Cambridge for university, I have practised the same principles that I grew up with. 'I have always been extremely health conscious: sticking to all-organic produce, I prepare all my own meals and I absolutely do not drink or cook with tap water. 'I have never taken drugs, despite pressure to, and I rarely drink alcohol. Advertisement Kent and Medway Coroner Service in Oakwood House (Gareth Fuller/PA) 'If I became ill, I've always turned to my mum first for advice as she is a trained nurse and qualified nutritionist. 'Practically fanatical about my health, my close friends know me as a staunch advocate for all proven natural healing'. She also described her mother as 'an extremely forceful advocate for natural health' who is 'misquoted' by people claiming 'those natural solutions are conspiratorial'. Ms Shemirani was struck off as a nurse in 2021, with a UK Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) committee finding that she had spread Covid-19 misinformation that 'put the public at a significant risk of harm', the inquest heard previously. Advertisement Another statement in Paloma's name added 'my friends know me as a staunch advocate of the Gerson therapy' and that she is 'anti-vax'. She said she had been using Gerson therapy as one mode of treatment on the advice of her mother's ex-fiance, Doctor Patrick Villers, and that at 15 years old she spent three weeks in his camp in Mexico where it was practised. Gerson therapy involves a strict organic vegetarian diet and enemas and has been used in cancer treatment, though Cancer Research UK says that there is no scientific evidence it can be used as a treatment for cancer. Gabriel Shemirani, twin brother of Paloma (Gareth Fuller/PA) Her GP was also monitoring her blood and progress, she said. Advertisement The former Cambridge student went on to deny having the disease and said 'I was not diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma… I have never had a shadow on my lung, this is absurd fantasy, no proof'. She described the diagnosis as 'suspected and unconfirmed', and said a 'differential diagnosis' only meant cancer could not be ruled out. Paloma understood that she had a one in five chance of surviving the commonplace R-CHOP treatment that was offered, and feared it would likely make her infertile, the inquest heard. 'I do not want to undergo such a harsh treatment that could even kill me when there is a possibility this is not cancer', she said. The High Court statement alleged multiple violations of human rights in her care, the inquest heard, including Articles 3, 6 and 8 and possibly Articles 1, 5 and 12. 'I am so shocked, as are others assisting me, especially my mother, that this could take place today', the statement said. 'These were put in place forever to prevent what Dr Mengele did in the second world war. How could this happen today?', it continued. Notorious Nazi doctor Josef Mengele performed experiments on his victims in Auschwitz. The patient said symptoms she presented in hospital with – including a swollen face, excruciating chest pain being unable to move her arm – had subsided. Coroner Catherine Wood reprimanded Ms Shemirani multiple times during proceedings. Ms Shemirani cross-examined Dr Amit Goel, a consultant histopathologist at Maidstone Hospital who carried out a biopsy. She repeatedly put to him that insufficient tissue was taken to carry out a FISH test that could rule out other diseases and alter Paloma's treatment plan. The doctor denied that this would have influenced Paloma's care multiple times, and the coroner told Ms Shemirani the inquest is trying to look at 'how Paloma came about her death' but 'you are apparently trying to get information which is incorrect, factually incorrect, in the statements you are making'. 'I think your questions are just designed to take up time and delay matters by the way you're asking them repeatedly,' she added. The mother accused participants of mis-pronouncing her name, which eventually led Ms Wood to say: 'I am going to rise, for Ms Shemirani to reflect on her behaviour in court, this is unacceptable. 'Let's have a pause for tempers to die down because you are clearly becoming over-fixated on a detail.' World Novak Djokovic claims he was 'never anti-vax' Read More At the opening of the hearing Ms Shemirani made an application for a lawyer to recuse herself. The coroner rejected the application and said had seen the 'hundreds of emails that have been sent in' and that 'you have requested that everybody recuse themselves at various times', including the coroner herself. The inquest continues.
