Ex-Labor Party chair Shelly Yachimovich reveals months-long battle with pancreatic cancer

Former MK and former Labor Party chairwoman Shelly Yachimovich revealed on Sunday that she has been undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer in recent months, saying the tumor was discovered about eight months ago at an early stage, without metastases, and was immediately removed in surgery.

"Hi, it's Shelly. This is going to be a completely personal post, an answer to those who are interested and asking who aren't in the family-and-friends loop," Yachimovich wrote at the beginning of a personal post published on social media. "Eight months ago, my life suddenly changed."

"A cancerous tumor was discovered in my pancreas. Luckily, I was diagnosed at an early stage, without metastases, and I underwent surgery immediately."

Yachimovich said that she has been under medical monitoring since the operation and that the results so far have been encouraging. According to her, CT scans conducted since the surgery have shown three times that the tumor that was removed has not returned and that there are no signs of recurrence.

Despite this, she continues to undergo chemotherapy once every two weeks.

"Pancreatic cancer is a bastard of a cancer that has to be attacked on all fronts, so I'm undergoing pretty tough chemo once every two weeks," she wrote.

'There are difficult days, but there is no misery or fear'

In the post, Yachimovich described her experience with the illness in a clear-eyed and at times almost matter-of-fact manner. She did not conceal the difficulty of the treatments, but stressed that her life had not stopped.

"There are difficult days, but there is no misery or fear," she wrote.

Yachimovich said she continues to ride her bicycle, go to the beach, meet friends, and do nearly all the things she did before the diagnosis, although more moderately because of the weakness caused by chemotherapy.

She also described the extensive support she has received from those around her.

"I'm experiencing love and the willingness of those around me to help in every way, and it's moving, sorry for the cliché," she wrote.

Yachimovich also placed her personal struggle within the context of Israel's experience in recent years, saying that the events of October 7 and the heavy human toll since then have affected the way she views her illness.

"On October 7 and in the three years that have passed since then, so many young men and women, boys and girls, were murdered and killed in such terrible deaths, so many dreams, hopes and wishes were buried," she wrote. "Who am I, when I have had and still have an interesting, fulfilling and good life in every respect, to complain or feel sorry for myself?"

'I haven't developed mystical tendencies'

Yachimovich also addressed the way she has chosen to approach the illness medically.

"I haven't developed mystical tendencies or alternative theories, nor have I formed some exciting new insight into the meaning of life," she wrote. "I trust modern medicine."

She devoted much of the post to the medical teams treating her at Ichilov Medical Center and the staff at Clalit's Ben-Yehuda clinic.

"I admire and deeply appreciate the teams at Ichilov, at every level," she wrote. "They are collapsing under an inhuman and unreasonable workload, and yet they astonishingly and heroically maintain insane standards of professionalism and dedication."

Pancreatic cancer is considered one of the more challenging forms of cancer to treat, in part because in many cases it is discovered at an advanced stage. When the disease is detected at an early and localized stage, surgery can sometimes be performed to remove the tumor, followed by additional treatment aimed at reducing the risk of recurrence.

Yachimovich stressed that she is continuing to do everything medically required of her, while maintaining what she described as a practical view of the future.

"I'm doing everything necessary to recover and to make sure the disease doesn't return, and there is a fairly good chance of that, but I'm in a practical state of mind and at peace with less optimistic scenarios as well."