Jonnie Irwin ‘wary of big pharma’ after cancer treatment as NHS doctors ‘not allowed to step outside the box’

Nearly four years on from his initial diagnosis, Irwin has been open with his alternative methods of treating his illness, using the help of “hyperbaric oxygen, [intravenous] Vitamin C and Reiki” among other drugs and treatments.

Speaking with Jane McLelland on her podcast Conversations with Jane McLelland, the pair discussed how the NHS often refused to advise such methods and focus heavily and tried and tested drugs as well as diet.

Irwin opened up: “It’s a strange relationship with all alternative therapies and diets and whatever (from) the standard NHS. I’ve got an excellent oncologist and he’s top of his game. He supports me in everything I do.

“I run past him what alternative drugs I’m taking to make sure he’s okay with it. He can’t prescribe it, he can’t say, ‘Take that!’ because he’s got rules and regulations and I appreciate and honour that. But he can say, ‘That’s not good’.”

As the conversation moved on, McLelland mentioned how she feared her campaigns to get said methods recognised by health bodies would be “taken down”, to which Irwin picked up on her wording.

“I mean, I’ve spoken to a lot of people in this industry and I’m lucky that my profile opens doors to people who, let’s say, are at the high end of their own practices, if you like, and specialists,” he said.

“But the more I research and the more I speak to people on the alternative side outside the ‘take your pill from the NHS’, the more I am wary of the interests of big pharma and when you say ‘they’, I assume it’s one driven by big pharma.

“What you’re doing is educating people that there are other ways that can help,” he continued before McLelland added it “frustrated” her that doctors “wouldn’t take a chance” with new treatments, especially for stage four patients.

Delving into his own experience, Irwin said: “I’m lucky. My oncologist, I can speak openly to him and he’s quite high up as well. But I know the restrictions that are put upon him and he can’t say certain things to me and I appreciate that but likewise I want him to be aware of all that I do.

“I show him all of what I’m doing and what I’m taking and I sometimes say, ‘I’m gonna go get some treatment’ and he’ll be like, ‘Oh, I’m not sure about that but take care’ or I’ll show him certain medications that I’m taking and he’ll say, ‘Yeah, that’s not interfering… but be careful of that one, we’ll monitor your bloods’.

“He’ll do what he can do and I appreciate all of his honesty…

“But I think anybody working for the NHS or in the UK, they’re not allowed to step outside the box.”