A TikTok creator has passed away after a prolonged seven-year struggle with a rare form of cancer.
Rachel Yaffe was just 27 at the time of her death on Friday (October 11). In the years following her diagnosis, she utilized the social media platform TikTok to share her experiences.
At the age of 20, Rachel, from Lutherville, Maryland, learned she had fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma, a very rare cancer that typically impacts young adults and affects around 200 individuals worldwide each year.
Initially, she thought she was suffering from gluten intolerance. However, a visit to a local physician led her to a specialist who discovered a 20cm tumor in her liver, revealing that it was already at stage four.
The tumor was successfully removed, but within a few months of being declared cancer-free, she found out that it had returned and spread to her liver and lungs.
Rachel’s last post on Instagram, where she had 7,000 followers, or on TikTok, where she had over 54,000 followers, was shared on September 1.
https://www.tiktok.com/@username/video/7242704898884767019
In a message to her TikTok audience, she expressed, “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.”
Rachel went on to say, “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.”
Her obituary notes that 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.’