A TikToker has died following her seven-year battle with a rare cancer.
Rachel Yaffe was only 27 when she passed away on Friday (October 11), but in her final few years following her diagnosis, she has used the platform to chronicle her journey.
Rachel Yaffe was just 27 when she died (Instagram/rachelkyaffe)
At the young age of 20, the Lutherville, Maryland, influencer discovered she had fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma – an extremely rare cancer that typically affects young adults and around 200 people around the world annually.
Her diagnosis initially came about after she thought she was just gluten intolerant, but following an appointment with a local doctor, she was referred to a specialist who discovered a 20cm tumor in her liver – and was told it was already a stage four cancer.
It was successfully removed, but just months after being cancer-free she learned that it had come back, and this time had spread to her liver and lungs.
Her final post on either Instagram, where she has 7,000 followers, or TikTok, where she boasts of more than 54,000, came on September 1.
Havent shared too much about this one but its been a game changer for everything about my life + heres some evidence to back it up (listen through all the way) #cancerhealing#chronicillness#healing#manifestation#subconsciousreprogramming#createanewreality#joedispenza#visualization
♬ original sound – Rachel Yaffe
Speaking to her TikTok followers, she said: “I’m back in New York and I’m back in my apartment that makes me so happy to be in my own space again, but honestly it has not been easy being back here.
“I’m so grateful to be back in my space be surrounded by my friends. That alone has been really helpful for me mentally. I lost so much of my strength when I was getting radiation and I’m starting from day one.
“It’s been so hard for me to get up and force myself to move so I’m working on doing that, thankfully it’s easier to walk around here being in the city.”
Yaffe was diagnosed with fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma which affects around 200 people each year around the world (Instagram/rachelkyaffe)
Yaffe continued: “Plus I’m working really hard to stick to a very strict food regimine for cancer healing that is also taking up a lot of energy.
“I am occasionally at a pretty low appetite so it’s been a little bit difficult both physically and mentally but I’m working on really just focusing on the small things that bring me joy and really, really prioritizing my mental health as well.
“That’s kind of the update of where I’m at right now.”
According to her obituary, she is survived by ‘her devoted parents, Linda (nee Bass) and Wayne Yaffe; cherished brother and sister, Jordan Yaffe and Jessica Yaffe; dear grandmother, Sydney Bass; and loving dog, Layla.’
