Anish Vij
Health professionals have questioned an influencer's claim that she 'gave herself breast cancer.'
Stephanie Weeks, a content creator from the US, was diagnosed with an 'aggressive' form of stage three breast cancer in 2021.
Aged just 42 at the time, the Mississippi resident paired chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery with 'healing methods' such as acupuncture and alkaline water.
Incredibly, she was cancer free later that year and has since shared her journey online.
Advert
In a recent video, however, Stephanie made the bold claim that she 'gave myself cancer.'
"It was triple negative breast cancer, and it was even lymph involved," she said in an Instagram reel posted on 26 July
"Devastating. I think that there are several things that contributed, stress. The stress was chronic.
"It was for years, and it was tremendous. Second thing was I did not take sleep seriously enough.
Advert
"Sometimes I would work all day, all night, all day, all night and go days without sleeping."
She also claimed that keeping her phone in her bra was another 'contributing factor' because the 'tumor was right on the edge of the skin, right where the cell phone sat.'
A retired breast surgeon told the Daily Mail that Stephanie's claims were ' bloody dangerous and very persuasive.'
"It’s absolute nonsense," says Liz O'Riordan.
Advert
"Mobile phones and WiFi do not cause breast cancer."
She clarified: "Whilst a stressful life and lack of sleep can lead to poor lifestyle choices, gaining weight, alcohol and no exercise stress and lack of sleep by themselves do not cause breast cancer.
"This is dangerous. If she did want to empower women she should be quoting the source she got this information from.
"There are some small studies that suggest they might be a factor but they’ve all been disproved due to lack of evidence."
Dr Mangesh Thorat, a consultant breast surgeon at Homerton University Hospital, also agreed that there wasn't enough evidence to support what Stephanie was saying.
Advert
"Existing evidence does not show any association between breast cancer and stress, sleep deprivation or organ proximity to mobile phone signal," he added.
"Avoiding or minimising stress and ensuring adequate sleep is however a common-sense advice that helps at least improve quality of life.
"Everyone should aim to achieve these objectives."
The NHS says 'anyone can get breast cancer and it's not always clear what causes it.'
Advert
LADbible Group has contacted Stephanie Weeks for comment.