Topics: Cancer, Health, Mental Health, Conspiracy Theories, Community
The children of a prominent conspiracy theory 'influencer' are speaking out as they accuse their mom's anti-medicine rhetoric of claiming the life of their sister.
In late 2023, 23-year-old Paloma Shemirani, from the UK, began having chest pains and breathing problems, with subsequent medical tests revealing a devastating diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
While the cancer can be deadly if left untreated, it has a promising survival rate of 80 per cent with chemo. Yet seven months later, Paloma was dead.
Now, her siblings Gabriel and Sebastian are speaking out on the heartbreaking ordeal, as they accuse dangerous medical conspiracy theories spouted by their mother, Kate Shemirani, of being responsible for their sister's death last year.
Advert
Kate, meanwhile, has accused the NHS of being responsible for her daughter's death.
After her diagnosis, Paloma refused treatment for her cancer, with evidence seen by the BBC suggesting she may have been influenced by her mother while she was in hospital, with claims she urged her daughter not to 'sign or verbally consent to chemo or any treatment' in an alleged text message sent to Paloma's then-boyfriend Ander Harris.
Kate has become a prominent figure on social media among conspiracy theorists, rising to prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic for her anti-medicine views.
Online, she promoted false claims that pandemic was a hoax and that vaccines were actually part of a plan to kill people.
In 2021, a Nursing and Midwifery Council panel ruled that Kate should be struck off from her role as a nurse for promoting misinformation about Covid-19.
Gabriel and Sebastian say their childhood was filled with their mom parroting various theories to them, such as the British Royal Family being lizards, the Sandy Hook school shooting being staged or 9/11 being an 'inside job'.
"As a young child, you trust your parents. So you see that as a truth," Gabriel told the BBC, while Sebastian accused his mom of using conspiracy theories as a way of controlling her children.
After their parents broke up, the brothers ended up estranged from their mother, but Paloma remained in contact and had absorbed some of her mom's views over the years, they say.
"Paloma's strategy was to appease, to be sweet, to try and win the love that she hadn't been granted earlier," Sebastian said, while alleging that there were times Paloma confided in her boyfriend that the relationship with her mother had periods of being toxic or abusive.
When Paloma was diagnosed with cancer, Ander and his own mother raised concerns with medics about Kate's beliefs and how they may have rubbed off on her daughter.
According to the BBC, staff at the hospital raised safeguarding concerns among themselves, expressing 'a concern regarding parental influence'. However, it was also deemed that given Paloma was an adult, she had the capacity to make her own decisions over her treatment plan.
Paloma was reportedly worried about the side effects of chemo, and had sought out advice from a former partner of her mom who allegedly told her the 80 percent survival rate figure was 'exaggerated'.
Ultimately, Paloma declined the chemo and opted to go down the route of Gerson therapy, a controversial alternative treatment which involves a strict plant-based diet, juices, supplements, and coffee enemas.
There is no scientific evidence that the regime helps treat cancer, and Paloma became more and more unwell as time went on, her friends say.
They also claim she was becoming more isolated from her social circle as her mother helped care for her.
Meanwhile, Sebastian and Gabriel were so worried about Paloma that they launched a legal case arguing that she did not have capacity, but the case ended when Paloma sadly passed away.
Gabriel claims he only learned the tragic news several days later after a phone call from their lawyer.
"I haven't come to terms with that at all," Sebastian admitted.
Paloma had suffered a heart attack as a result of her tumor and while she was taken to hospital for treatment, the decision was made to turn off her life support a few days later.
An inquest is due to take place next month looking into the circumstances around Paloma's death.
When contacted by the BBC about the allegations surrounding her daughter's death, Kate did not respond directly to the claims, but instead accused the NHS of being responsible for Paloma's passing.
"Paloma died as a result of medical interventions given without confirmed diagnosis or lawful consent," she claimed. There is no evidence to support her accusations, according to the BBC.
Sebastian and Gabriel have gone public with their accusations in the hope of preventing more deaths as a result of medical misinformation that can spread like wildfire on social media, calling on companies to clamp down on unproven theories online.
"My sister has passed away as a direct consequence of my mum's actions and beliefs and I don't want anyone else to go through the same pain or loss that I have," Sebastian said.
