Cancer lies infuriate Ashton

Geraldton’s Ashton Taylor knows the struggles of battling a brain condition.

In 2013, she was diagnosed with Dural Fistulas, an abnormal connection between an artery and the tough covering over the brain.

She has had 15 surgeries in the past two years and there are more she must endure.

There is an arteriovenous malformation (fistula) in her jugular which needs to be removed.

Doctors have informed her the fistulas in her brain are now gone.

Like anyone battling a health condition, Ms Taylor wanted to live a healthy lifestyle to aid her treatment and recovery.

Now-disgraced wellness advocate Belle Gibson was gaining national attention for her app, The Whole Pantry, and her story of curing her terminal brain cancer with healthy eating and natural therapies.

Ms Taylor was intrigued.

She downloaded The Whole Pantry app and used some of her recipes.

She said she was a bit sceptical about Ms Gibson’s story, it was almost too good to be true, but she had appeared on national television and won the Cosmopolitan Magazine Fun, Fearless Female Award.

But, Ms Taylor’s intuition was right.

Mother-of-one Ms Gibson has now admitted the story was a hoax and last month it was revealed she failed to donate $300,000 in revenue from the sale of her app to charity as promised.

Ms Taylor, who is studying a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Communication and Media at the University of Western Australia, was “infuriated” and has penned the following letter to Ms Gibson on her mother Suzannah Taylor’s blog — Chronicles of a Lumpy Person.

Dear Belle Gibson,

I want you to know that I am angry with you. I’m not actually angry. I’m infuriated beyond belief.

You have just come out telling The Australian Women’s Weekly that you lied about having terminal brain cancer.

As a patient who has gone through 15 brain surgeries, numerous angiograms, hundreds of blood tests and many MRI scans, how dare you make money by lying about a hardship many Australians like myself have to go through every single day?

Do you even know what it’s like for someone to have brain problems? I do.

I’m 21 and I’ve been through 15 brain surgeries to fix my brain condition, and I am still needing to have more surgery in the coming months.

Each one of my surgeries has lasted on average seven hours.

Do you know how painful those seven hours are for my family and friends?

They’re the ones that are sitting in the waiting room at the hospital, refreshing their Facebook news feed to keep them entertained during the ordeal and nervously biting on every little last bit of their cuticles while messaging people who want updates on how I am going.

It makes my heart sink every time they’ve waited for me while I’m in surgery.

How dare you make money off these innocent people. I, like many others who suffer from a debilitating brain condition, bought your app, The Whole Pantry.

I thought it would be good to try to make my lifestyle as healthy as possible. You said so yourself.

You had terminal brain cancer. You survived, so I thought I could rid myself of illness as well.

How idiotic I feel right now for believing you.

How dare you blame your lies on your rough start to life. You give your excuse that you had ‘a difficult upbringing’.

Although I did not have a rough start, I went through many problems in my adolescence: depression, bullying and severe acne, just to name a few.

But you know what Belle? I got help from my counsellor and my doctor.

Today I am in a much happier place, with some good antidepressants and acne cream to help me.

And now Belle Gibson, it’s time for you to get help yourself. Help to learn how to apologise to these people you encouraged so much hope in, because you have upset so many people.

People like my mum, a breast cancer survivor and a sufferer of Cowden’s Syndrome, which means she is at higher risk of cancer.

People like my mother’s plastic surgeon who sees the devastating effects cancer can have on patients each day. He’s furious. People like myself, a fellow Cowden’s sufferer like my mum and a survivor of a severe brain condition.

I am ashamed to have wasted my money on your app. I am someone who believed in your lies, someone you instilled a glimmer of hope in.

Belle Gibson, all I can say is this to you: How dare you.