'We remortgaged the house': Kerrie's mum spent thousands on promised cancer cures. Then she died

"The doctors were very honest, compassionate but very honest about the fact that she was not expected to survive," she said.

"She was only in her early 40s and she had a very strong desire to live, and as a result, pursued everything.

"She sought treatment in Australia, she went overseas, she threw tens of thousands of dollars. We remortgaged the house to try and find a cure."

Watching her mum spend thousands of dollars on treatments and pills that promised a cure for her breast and bile duct cancer was one of the reasons Dr Aust became a doctor.

Dr Aust said while many people were well-meaning in their attempts to help her mum, there were others who sold expensive products that made her much sicker.

"The worst part of it was the false hope that was offered, because in the end, she still died," she said.

"Ultimately, the treatments which provided her with relief from the significance of her cancer, reduced her tumour burden and provided her with pain relief were all provided by her doctors."

Dr Aust was 26 when she lost her mum. The now Australian Medical Association ACT president, who also works as a GP, is concerned Canberrans are falling into the same "false hope" her mum did.

"There is a lot of what I would argue is quite predatory marketing that's going on in spaces where people are more vulnerable, so new parents with supplements marketed at babies ... and weight loss," she said.

"But the space which I find really, really concerning is around cancer therapies."

Netflix's new series Apple Cider Vinegar, which dramatises the rise and fall of Belle Gibson, an Instagram influencer who lied about having a brain tumour, has put alternative medicine back in the spotlight.

Alternative medicines are defined by the Canberra Health Literacy Hub as treatments or products that are used instead of conventional medicine. They're different to complementary medicines which are used alongside conventional treatments, and may include activities like yoga, meditation and exercise.

A spokesperson from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), which governs medications and therapies in Australia, said they were concerned for the health of Australians accessing unregistered or unapproved products, or information about these products, online.

"The TGA urges extreme caution when purchasing medicines from unknown websites, social media or other digital platforms, or when relying on information from these sites to make healthcare decisions," the spokesperson said.

"It is important that patients have conversations with and seek advice from their health professional when making healthcare decisions, as their health professional is best positioned to provide appropriate guidance based on their individual needs."

In the 2023-24 financial year, the TGA requested the removal of more than 4800 unlawful advertisements of therapeutic goods from various digital platforms, including social media.

In the first six months of the 2024-25 financial year, the number of requests for removal had already reached almost 12,000.

Under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989, advertising therapeutic goods purporting to treat, cure, prevent, diagnose or monitor certain serious conditions such as cancer is prohibited without prior TGA approval.

Dr Aust said patients often came in with vitamins, supplements or other products they'de been told would help their health.

"If we're really honest, when you're feeling really tired I don't think any of us have not paused at the supplement aisle in the supermarket and gazed longingly at things and thought, maybe this will stop me from feeling tired," she said.

"With social media, it's much easier to find yourself in what I'd call a bubble, where ideas echo around each other so the conversations that I see on social media are really no different to what I saw 20 years ago when we were looking for options to care for my mum.

"Misinformation makes people feel powerful."