A 23-year-old woman in the UK lost her life after battling cancer, all because she refused treatment... and chose an alternative regimen influenced by her own mother instead. According to the BBC this week, Paloma Shemirani died last July after suffering from a heart attack caused by an untreated tumor. She was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma seven months before her death and told by her doctors she had a high chance of surviving if she underwent chemotherapy. However, she refused treatment.