Social media personality Rachel Yaffe died on Friday, October 11, after battling a rare form of liver cancer. She was 27.
Yaffe’s death was confirmed in an online obituary, noting that funeral services in Maryland “are private.” She is survived by her parents, her brother and sister, her grandmother and her “loving dog, Layla.”
Yaffe was diagnosed with cancer when she was 20.
“I went to a doctor over the summer, who knew me personally, and she felt around my whole body. She even felt my liver and she didn’t feel anything, but she was like, ‘I can tell in your eyes that you feel like something is wrong with you,’” Yaffe recalled in an April 2023 TikTok video. “I feel like everyone was making me feel like it was my anxiety, like, I was crazy. … I went the next day to get an ultrasound. I thought I was just allergic to gluten because I was also getting bloated.”
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A liver specialist then confirmed that Yaffe had a “20-centimeter tumor” on her liver that had blocked blood flow to her calves, also explaining her recent shoulder pain. A biopsy later revealed the tumor, called fibrolamellar, was malignant.
“It is a super rare, adolescent liver cancer,” she said. “A few days later, I met with the surgeon, who told me he was going to remove it and that everything was gonna be fine, and I believed him.”
Three months after the procedure, Yaffe’s cancer recurred in her liver and lungs. The illness soon progressed to stage 4. Earlier this year, Yaffe moved back in with her parents while undergoing proton therapy treatment.
“It made me feel super fatigued, tired, weak. I had some other complications and symptoms going on,” she said in an August update video. “I finally started to feel a little bit strong enough to come back to New York, where my support system of friends are and where I also feel more inspired to go on walks and strengthen my body a little bit.”
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Yaffe prioritized a “metabolic approach to cancer healing,” by taking walks, eating clean and managing her glucose levels. Last month, Yaffe said she was “so happy” to be back in Manhattan post-treatment.
“But, honestly, it has not been easy being back here,” she admitted in a September 1 TikTok upload. “I am so grateful to be back in my space, 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 hard for me to get up and move around.”
While her healing was difficult “physically and mentally,” Yaffe wanted to focus “on the small things that bring [her] joy.”
