Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘Apple Cider Vinegar’ focuses on Belle Gibson’s false claims about her cancer diagnosis and how she built a wellness empire based on this lie. While most of the story focuses on her turbulent journey, it also puts the spotlight on other characters and their journey with cancer. One of those people is Milla Blake. Unlike Belle, she actually has cancer, and she finds alternative ways to treat it. Her search away from conventional medicine leads her to the Hirsh Institute in Tijuana, Mexico. Like most of the things in the Netflix show, this institute and its methods to treat cancer patients seem to have identifiable connections with reality.
The Hirsch Institute and Its Alternative Treatments Resemble the Gerson Institute and Their Methods
In bringing Belle Gibson’s story to the screen, the names of several people and characters have been tinkered with in ‘Apple Cider Vinegar.’ The Hirsch Institute is one of those things. In reality, there is no such place or form of therapy. However, one can draw comparisons between Hirsch and the Gerson Therapy and Institute. Alma Hirsch seems to be loosely based on Charlotte Gerson, while Walter Hirsch’s story seems to be inspired by Charlotte’s father, Max Gerson. The form of treatment used by them is called the Gerson therapy which claims to focus on the body’s “extraordinary ability to heal itself.” It aims to activate this ability by following a regimen that focuses on boosting the body’s immunity and removing toxins. It must be noted that the Gerson therapy is not approved by the FDA, neither have the claims of it treating cancer been proven through scientific studies.
The Gerson therapy was developed by Max Gerson, who initially used it to treat migraines. In the late 1930s, he started to use it for the treatment of tuberculosis and eventually moved on to other major diseases, like cancer. He wrote down the tenets of the therapy in his book, ‘A Cancer Therapy: Results of 50 Cases.’ According to it, a strict focus on a plant-based diet, additional supplements, and coffee enemas (to begin with) could help people fight cancer and other degenerative diseases. After Gerson’s death, his daughter took up the mantle and laid the foundation of the Gerson Institute in 1977. Currently, there are two such fully functioning institutes in Tijuana and Budapest. Additionally, Charlotte Gerson also wrote several books detailing the use of the therapy to cure several diseases. She passed away on February 10, 2019.
In the Netflix series, Milla Blake goes to the Hirsch Institute in Tijuana, which seems to be a reference to the Gerson Insititute in Tijuana. Located in Playas de Tijuana, it was founded in 2001 and offers different programs ranging from one week to three weeks and more to help the patients. The cost begins from $6,000 per week for one patient, who is allowed to have one companion with them. Australian wellness blogger Jess Ainscough (who seems to be the inspiration behind Milla Blake’s character) spent time at the Gerson Institute in Tijuana and became a major supporter of the Gerson therapy, which she wrote about in her blog posts. She passed away seven years after her diagnosis in 2015 and had notably opted to go with radiation treatment in her final few weeks.
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