After a day of hiking to Machu Picchu in Peru, I received a text from a friend with a screenshot of a familiar face — Dr. Laura Esserman, Director of the Breast Care Center at UCSF. She was being interviewed on the news. The headline read ELLE MACPHERSON REVEALS CANCER BATTLE.
My friend texted: “DCIS and they are calling it breast cancer and that she is in remission. That she chose to not do treatment. Crazy with being barely cancer… of course you know.“
Eager to connect to Wifi at my hotel that evening, I was shocked by the media blitz criticizing Elle.
One article titled: Elle Macpherson slammed for ‘holistic’ cancer approach stated:
Macpherson’s approach to treatment has been met with criticism on social media, particularly firing up users on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Cancer researcher Dr David Robert Grimes said: “Incredibly irresponsible from Elle Macpherson: Holistic therapy is NOT (a) valid treatment for breast cancer.”
Meanwhile, Dr Liz O’Riordan said: “We have proof that … who choose not to have mainstream cancer treatments for breast cancer are 6x (sic) more likely to die thanks to @sky__john and co.
Another article stated: Doctors from the UK to Australia and back have slammed her pronouncements, with one professor of public health from Trinity College Dublin saying “this bullshit kills people“.
I found myself in disbelief.
DCIS is not life-threatening.
Once I returned home, I was able to investigate further. Thankfully I found one article that actually mentions the incongruency of information and what was missing from the many media articles and comments:
“But media coverage of Macpherson’s situation has largely missed a key piece of information: her breast cancer is not invasive. This missing information from the media is also a missed opportunity to discuss less invasive options for the management of DCIS. The rate of DCIS has increased greatly since the introduction of breast cancer screening. You can detect it on a mammogram but it rarely causes symptoms. Many of these lesions are unlikely to ever cause a problem in a woman’s lifetime. As a result of this, some cases of DCIS are considered to be over-diagnosed. Now options such as active surveillance (closely monitoring but not providing treatment unless the condition progresses) are considered reasonable and are being robustly evaluated in research trials to help reduce overtreatment.”
Since 2009, there have been conferences and debates and published articles calling for the removal of the word “carcinoma” as well as less aggressive treatment options including “active surveillance.” See Medscape article Take Carcinoma Out and Ease off Treatment.
This one article sparked my personal quest of endless hours drilling into the debate among medical professionals. I started to collect articles and videos of the few experts stating DCIS is more like “abnormal cells” and the word “carcinoma” should be removed from the diagnosis because it creates exaggerated fear and too many women felt rushed towards aggressive “cancer” treatments.
DCIS 411 was created in 2011 to educate women about this.
After 15 years of my own personal research regarding DCIS and Holistic Health, seven years serving as a Patient Advocate within high level medical research to help reduce DCIS overdiagnosis and overtreatment, and 13 years hosting a DCIS website and online support groups, I believe my opinions and my questions matter.
Why is the media not helping women to better understand DCIS — that it is not “breast cancer,” but a risk factor?
Why are holistic therapies not being studied to help reduce risk of invasive cancer after a DCIS diagnosis?
I was told by one doctor, “There’s no money in it.”
Elle did what I believe all women should do… slow down, get 2nd opinons, make well-informed decisions, and make your health a priority.
Over the years the media has praised other celebrities diagnosed with DCIS who are champions for prophylactic double mastectomies. In 2015, celebrity chef Sandra Lee spoke out publicly and said her doctor told her she was a “ticking time bomb” which drove her to choose a double mastectomy for DCIS. I wrote DCIS is NOT a “Ticking Time Bomb” — What Women Really Need to Know. I also wrote about the high rate of double mastectemies for DCIS here.
We are all unique and there is no one right way to handle or treat a scary diagnosis like DCIS. I fully relate with Elle’s choices. Although I am not a celebrity with endless financial resources, I too sought multiple opinions from conventional cancer doctors, integrative doctors, naturopathic doctors, a nutritionist, a holistc dentist, and I also sought out and paid out of pocket for different forms of breast imaging. I read nonstop. I studied anti-cancer nutrition. I came to believe wholeheartedly in “Food and Lifestyle as Medicine.”
Now, when I think back to when I received a DCIS diagnosis in 2010, I remember how the aggressive “standard of care” treatments presented to me shocked me more than the actual “pre-cancerous condition” the nurse told me I had. I felt frozen by the thought of losing my breast or having daily radiation for weeks. The anti-hormonal drugs seemed awful, and I was more worried about short and long-term side effects than a slight risk reduction. I knew, from extensive research that if I declined any or all treatments that my life was not in danger.
And it turns out I was right.
Being told “Your breast is like spoiled soup and not worth saving” is truly horrendous. In 2023 I wrote about how I proved my doctor wrong: In 2011, My Doctor Told Me: “Your Breast is Like Spoiled Soup… It’s Not Worth Saving.”
It continues to amaze me that 15 years after this all began for me, the media is still over-sensationalizing a dangerous “cancer battle” of a celebrity who is diagnosed with a non-invasive, non-life-threatening condition.
Not only do I feel the media is doing a disservice to women, I feel doctors have a responsibility to educate the public and correct the media when a celebrity like Elle’s diagnosis is being wrongly discussed and over-sensationalized.
Great to see follow up articles such as this: Elle Macpherson defends holistic cancer treatment despite backlash:
“I guess I would say I’m really pleased that it [has] sparked conversation and discussion, because with discussion comes awareness and comes growth,” she said of the backlash the initial interview had generated. “Uncomfortable for me, but I think it’s very worthwhile in that sense,” she said.
Bravo Elle Macpherson! Let’s keep the conversation and education going!
Please watch my DCIS story on Inside Edition and then click the links below:
Over-diagnosis 411: Overdiagnosis Devastates Lives of Healthy Women
Be W I S E (Screening 411) Women Informed Supported Empowered
DCIS 411 