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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14838091/daughter-covid-nurse-kate-shemirani-died-cancer.html

Cambridge grad daughter of notorious anti-vaxxer died of cancer age 23 after refusing treatment when she 'fell for mum's conspiracy theories', brothers claim

By JON BRADY

Published: 14:34, 23 June 2025 | Updated: 17:44, 23 June 2025

A Cambridge graduate died of cancer after being indoctrinated by her mother into refusing conventional medical treatment, her siblings claim.  Paloma Shemirani died in July last year aged 23 after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a form of blood cancer.  Miss Brighton finalist Paloma was the daughter of Kate Shemirani, a notorious anti-vaxxer who was struck off the UK's nursing register in 2021 for her extreme anti-medicine views, including discouraging the use of masks and vaccines.  Her brothers, Gabriel and Sebastian, claim their sister ultimately ended up refusing conventional chemotherapy despite doctors saying it would give her an 80 per cent chance of survival because of pressure from their mother, with whom she had been trying to build a better relationship.  They also allege that their mother sought to isolate her daughter from friends, her boyfriend and other members of her family, even as the cancer's progression became distressingly clear.  Paloma, a Cambridge graduate who was pictured beaming with her two A* and A results after finishing school, had aspired to embark on a career in publishing.  But her life was cut tragically short due to, her brothers allege, undue influence from their mother, who rose to notoriety during the coronavirus pandemic.  Kate, 60, continues to call herself a 'natural nurse' despite being banned from practising nursing in the UK. She made headlines during the pandemic when she used social media to claim Covid vaccines had 'a tiny bit of Satan' inside, the jabs caused cancer and contained material harvested from aborted foetuses.  She also claimed the Covid virus was linked to the roll-out of 5G technology, and a political tool to gain access to and change people's DNA. She likened lockdown to the Holocaust and insisted dancing NHS nurses would 'stand trial for genocide', while also branding vaccination teams 'death squads'.  She has not commented on her sons' claims, instead claiming without evidence that the NHS is responsible for her daughter's death.  Speaking to the BBC ahead of a Panorama documentary that airs on Monday night, Gabriel and Sebastian said Paloma had died just seven months after being diagnosed with cancer because of her mother's extreme views.  Sebastian said: '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.'

Kate - who was banned from Twitter but returned when it was rebranded as X under Elon Musk is said to have briefly worked for the HS in the 1980s before working as a British Airways air hostess and mode before administering Botox, fillers and peels while bringing up her children.  She now shares her extremist views on the NHS, immigration and vaccines with her 81,000 followers and conspiracy theories were a common soundtrack on the school run, including those perpetuated by misinformation spreader Alex Jones.  Jones has since been declared bankrupt after being told to pay $1.5billion to victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting in the US, which he claimed had been staged to tighten up American gun laws.  At home, WiFi was switched off and the children were peddled other conspiracy theories by Kate and their father Faramarz Shemirani.  Sebastian previously claimed his his childhood was 'hell' because of years of brainwashing, describing how he was left terrified as a 10-year-old when Ms Shemirani told him 'the Rothschilds are planning to go live on a space station and how there's going to be this mass genocide'.

In 2012, Kate was diagnosed with breast cancer and had the tumour removed through surgery, undergoing a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.  But online, she appears to suggest she was healed following 'Gerson therapy' a baseless form of alternative medicine that advocates following a plant-based diet to treat cancer and by taking vitamin and mistletoe injections.  I'm still here and thriving. You can shove your poison mustard gas where the sun doesn't shine you pimps and assassins,' she wrote on X earlier this year, in reference to chemotherapy.

Her recovery from cancer only fed into her anti-medicine views, according to Chantelle, a friend of Paloma's from school.  She told the BBC she watched Paloma get sunburned after refusing to wear sunscreen for fear that it, not sun exposure, caused cancer.  Gabriel and Sebastian are estranged from their mother but Paloma stayed in touch trying, they felt, to build upon her relationship. Like her mother, she refused to accept a coronavirus vaccination.  Texts seen by the broadcaster suggested that Kate was abusive, however, with one sent to Paloma's boyfriend reading: 'Im so so so sick of being abused all the time. I'm just sat taking (redacted) from her and crying at the same time.'

In 2023, when Paloma was diagnosed with cancer, doctors told her she had a 80 per cent chance of recovery if she underwent chemotherapy.  But Kate texted her daughter's boyfriend in all capitals, warning: 'TELL PALOMA NOT TO SIGN IR (sic) VERBALLY CONSENT TO CHEMO OR ANY TREATMENT.'

Paloma did not agree to chemotherapy even as doctors expressed concern over her mother's overt influence and instead reached out to a former partner of Kate's, who told her to consider Gerson therapy the baseless idea that a plant-based diet and routine of coffee enemas could treat cancer.  Cancer Research says of Gerson therapy: 'There is no scientific evidence to use it as a treatment for cancer.'

Many people turn to Gerson therapy, the charity says, because it gives them a sense of control over their cancer, particularly if they have been told that it cannot be treated. No clinical study has  ever been conducted, and other studies have been found to have been biased or funded by pro-alternative medicine bodies.  Kate's former partner has told the BBC that any 'assertions that I played a role in her death are legally inaccurate'.

But as Paloma continued with the treatment, her friends noticed that her cancer was worsening and spreading, with new lumps appearing on her body. She spoke of cutting people off if they disagreed with the direction she was taking her treatment.  Chantelle said of her friend: 'I don't think her ideology was strong enough to make those decisions is my personal belief. People have different opinions about these things, but I think her mum played a massive, massive role into it.'

Gabriel had asked to see his sister, only to be told she could not go out because of the 'bad air'. He launched a legal case to have her properly medically assessed but it never came to pass, as Paloma ultimately died in July 2024.  She had suffered a heart attack caused by her tumour, and was taken off of life support after days in hospital.  He only found out days after the event via his lawyer, and had to break the news to Sebastian.  An inquest into her death is due to begin next month.  Kate Shemirani, who has not responded to MailOnline's request for comment, has continued to post about her daughter's death on social media for the last year.  She claims that the NHS killed her daughter 'in the name of medicine and cash for corpses', without evidence, and continues fundraising in her daughter's name for legal fees that she says will be used to challenge the NHS in court.  Writing on X today, she said: 'When the time is ready we will put all of the documents in public but what I can say is that my daughter was given 12 times the dose of adrenaline and other drugs that did the same as the adrenaline.  It destroyed her brain in front of us as it collapsed her circulation and the rest is just a cover-up.'

Baselessly, she wrote online in a document co-authored with her ex-husband that Paloma's 'petite frame (was) subjected to excessive dosing that caused irreversible brain damage'.

She also writes about Paloma on her website, where she sells branded vitamin supplements and offers one-to-one consultations for around £195, despite being banned from practising nursing in the UK.  Kate was struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council the regulatory body for nursing in the UK in 2021 for her extreme anti-vaccine views.  She has argued anyone who disagrees with her is lying, misinformed or jealous, and she blamed overweight, envious nurses for her career being ended.   'The fact that I was always graced with decent looks and I'm always very slim has generated jealousy throughout my career,' she said previously.

It is said that Ms Shemirani only briefly worked for the NHS during the 1980s before working as a British Airways air hostess and model before administering Botox, fillers and peels while bringing up her four children.  Calling yourself a nurse without good reason is not currently a criminal offence but will change in the near future under government plans to make falsely identifying as a nurse a crime.  Health secretary Wes Streeting said of the proposals: 'This new legislation will help crack down on bogus beauticians and conspiracy theorists masquerading as nurses, and those attempting to mislead patients.'

In its announcement of the proposed legislation last month, the government directly alluded to Shemirani without naming her, referencing an incident in which she appeared to compare NHS bosses to the Nazis in 2021 , labelling her a 'bogus nurse'.  Speaking at the anti-lockdown rally in question, she had referenced Nuremberg Trials, in which seven physicians affiliated with the Nazis were put to death for their roles in the Holocaust and crimes against humanity.  She told an anti-lockdown gathering: 'At the Nuremberg trials, the doctors and nurses, they stood trial, and they hung. If you are a doctor or a nurse, now is the time to get off that bus.'

Police said at the time they were investigating the comments, with both London mayor Sadiq Kahn and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemning the comments.  She has also previously used social media to claim that every Covid vaccine has 'a tiny bit of Satan' inside, as well as saying that the jabs cause cancer and contain material harvested from aborted foetuses, all of which are untrue.  Elsewhere, Shemirani has also appeared at anti-lockdown events alongside other noted conspiracy theorists such as David Icke and Mark Steele, who have shared baseless anti-vaccine and anti-5G conspiracy theories for years. But she was 'replatformed' after being allowed back onto X, as well as TikTok which has since banned her account and Facebook, where she remains active.  Her sons said in an interview early in her rise to notoriety that she 'loves being the centre of attention',

Your additional time, effort and attention to detail really shines through!

That one is a bit longer than your usual ones too, right?  You are doing soooo well!