Woman ‘almost died’ trying to cure cancer with juice diet

A woman who almost died trying to cure her cancer with a juice diet has warned others against “cutting out” traditional medical advice and trying to source alternative information online. Medics tried to get Irena Stoynova to use conventional cancer treatments after she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in June 2021, but she “shut them out”. The former model said instead of chemotherapy, she sought alternatives online and took the advice of a man who has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, and claims the human body can “heal itself” with help of radical lifestyle and diet changes. Ms Stoynova, from Crondall in Hampshire, followed various diets and holistic therapies for two-and-a-half years, which left her emaciated with fluid on her lungs. Doctors said she was on the verge of death when she was taken to Frimley Park Hospital by ambulance in May last year. She was told by Dr Clare Rees that she would likely die without treatment for her cancer – which was stage three – but Ms Stoynova continued to refuse for a number of days before finally agreeing to receive chemotherapy. Ms Stoynova spent 50 days in the hospital’s acute dependency unit. She said when she was first diagnosed that she decided against traditional treatments after “reading about and watching many doctors and professors talk about the success rate of alternative therapies online”.