section_path: Career and deceit/Health claims
section_name: Health claims
paragraph_text: Health claims
  
  In interviews, Gibson claimed to have had brain cancer, blood, spleen, uterine, liver and kidney cancers, which she falsely attributed to a reaction to the Gardasil cervical cancer vaccine. When the book was launched in November 2014, Gibson claimed in its preface that she had been "stable for two years now with no growth of the cancer". Her story emerged as inconsistent: she told media outlets the cancer had reached her liver and kidneys; three months earlier, she had posted on The Whole Pantry ' s Facebook page that her cancer had spread to her brain, blood, spleen, and uterus. Gibson had claimed she had undergone heart surgery several times and to have died momentarily on the operating table. She also claimed to have had a stroke. However, she could not substantiate her medical claims, or name the doctors who had diagnosed and treated her. Gibson did not bear any surgical scars from her purported heart operations.
  
  Gibson's and The Whole Pantry ' s statements regarding the benefits of exercise, healthy eating, and a positive mindset were considered to be uncontroversial, being widely acknowledged as conducive to holistic well-being. However, on her now-deleted Instagram account and on other social media, Gibson also promoted dangerous pseudoscience practices, including Gerson therapy, anti-vaccination and the consumption of non-pasteurised raw milk.
  
  The controversial Gerson therapy had been similarly promoted by another Australian wellness blogger, Jessica Ainscough, whose funeral Gibson attended when Ainscough died from cancer in late February 2015.
  
  In interviews, Gibson claimed to have had brain cancer, blood, spleen, uterine, liver and kidney cancers, which she falsely attributed to a reaction to the Gardasil cervical cancer vaccine. When the book was launched in November 2014, Gibson claimed in its preface that she had been "stable for two years now with no growth of the cancer". Her story emerged as inconsistent: she told media outlets the cancer had reached her liver and kidneys; three months earlier, she had posted on The Whole Pantry ' s Facebook page that her cancer had spread to her brain, blood, spleen, and uterus. Gibson had claimed she had undergone heart surgery several times and to have died momentarily on the operating table. She also claimed to have had a stroke. However, she could not substantiate her medical claims, or name the doctors who had diagnosed and treated her. Gibson did not bear any surgical scars from her purported heart operations.
  
  Gibson's and The Whole Pantry ' s statements regarding the benefits of exercise, healthy eating, and a positive mindset were considered to be uncontroversial, being widely acknowledged as conducive to holistic well-being. However, on her now-deleted Instagram account and on other social media, Gibson also promoted dangerous pseudoscience practices, including Gerson therapy, anti-vaccination and the consumption of non-pasteurised raw milk.
  
  The controversial Gerson therapy had been similarly promoted by another Australian wellness blogger, Jessica Ainscough, whose funeral Gibson attended when Ainscough died from cancer in late February 2015.