My Story is about MY HUSBAND

This event took place from 23 Jun 2016 to 18 Feb 2018

The Discovery

For a year and a half my husband suffered from back pain on the left side, the doctor did all the possible tests but nothing was discovered. My husband lost Weight and started to suffer from constant burping. He was sent for an MRI scan and this is when they found the tumor in the tail of the pancreas with liver metastases, He was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.All the doctors were surprised because of his young age he was 51 years old

This is My Story

My name is TALI SEGEV, I am a member of the foundation LOVELOVE the ISREALI Pancreatic Cancer Foundation . My husband had pancreatic cancer and passed away 3.5 years and my father passed away from Pancreatic Cancer 2.5 month ago. This coming November I will be 54. November is a very meaningful month in my life, and not just because it is the day I was born. On my 50th birthday, my golden jubilee, I celebrated my last birthday with my late husband, YOSEF ZMADJA SEGEV, our 3 children and our extended family. At this stage of my late husband life, he was dealing with pancreatic cancer. and was already after three difficult rounds of chemotherapy, which success in affecting the tumor and reducing it and allowed him to enter the study of Dr. TALIA GOLAN, from Sheba Hospital, in Israel. A study that was designed for pancreatic cancer patients with genetic damage of BRCA2. I remember the moment we were informed that Yossi was a carrier of the genetic damage, that gave us hope for a treatment that was already known at the time, as a life-prolonger. Yossi began his research treatment and for nine months, his quality of life was like any person, who is conducted in his life with medication for a chronic illness. No side effects and no unbearable suffering. Medication that allowed Yossi to continue enjoying horse riding, which helped him greatly in his mental coping with the disease. Treatment that caused a significant reduction in the tumor in the pancreas and caused, almost completely, the disappearance of the metastases in the liver. We had nine months in which we were full of hope. Until the terrible day has come, when Yossi began to feel again the pains he had already known, before giving the innovative treatment. A day when we realized that the disease was back to being active. We were soon informed that the treatment had stopped working and Yossi, who was a warrior by nature, did not break down and asked, what else could be done, and agreed to join another experimental study that was less developed at the time. Yossi agreed to participate and said that even if he died eventually, it is important for him to contribute to finding a cure for the disease. The reaction to the drug and the side effects were not easy this time and when Yossi started developing epileptic seizures, I went back to Dr. Talia and asked to understand where we stand in dealing with the disease. Dr. Talia, who knew I was asking difficult questions, and wants to know the truth in order to know how to prepare for what about to come, looked at me with love, empathy and compassion and explained to me, in her gentle way, that Yossi had reached a stage in the disease that none of the pancreatic cancer patients had survived. Despite the great difficulty, Yossi did not give up, and set himself the goal of my 50th birthday as a destination to survive and reach it as he stands on his feet. At that time, Yossi was being treated with steroids and morphine pills that helped him function. Yossi survived and got to celebrate my birthday as he wished. Yossi wrote me a blessing that later became, a farewell letter and a will for continue my path as a woman who lost her husband to pancreatic cancer. A bless that I keep on the boards of my heart. A week after my birthday, Yossi’s condition deteriorated. I will never forget the moment when Dr. Talia told us that in the results of the C.T. It was discovered that Yossi’s liver had collapsed. Yossi asked to go out alone and left the room. It is hard for me to imagine what went through his mind when he received this news. I asked Dr. Talia, what now? I realized that we had reached a stage where there was nothing left to do, and my dear husband Yossi was going to die. From here, a rapid deterioration began, in which Yossi developed jaundice and began to suffer from severe, unbearable pain that caused us to connect him to a morphine machine, twenty-four hours a day. Yossi was treated at home as he wished. within a month and a half Yossi stopped eating and drinking, his legs swelled from edema and the dying phase began. Our three children and I set with him and not for a moment moved from his bed. My late husband Yossi passed away at home on August 12, 2018. He was 53 years old at the time of his death. We were married for exactly 30 years. And I, I was exactly 50 years old. I have lost, my best friend and left alone in the middle of life, thinking about our children continuing their lives without their father. After Yossi’s death my children have been tasted for BRAC2 and my older son, who is today 25 years old, found to be a carrier of the genetic damage BRAC2.
A year after the death of my late husband Yossi, I met Dr. Talia and told her that I want to donate and help the families of the patients. She told me about an association founded by several women, each with a story about pancreatic cancer. And that the association’s goal is to raise awareness of the disease, share knowledge and research and support families and patients. I immediately asked to join them. I felt it was my moral duty to give my knowledge that I had gained from my experience. despite the difficulty and pain, I knew I had found a new meaning to my life. I joined the association LoveloveIsreal and now, November, the month of my birthday has taken on another meaning in my life. I found out that this is the month that marks as the International Pancreatic Cancer Day.
Professionally I am a sycho-body therapist a mental and emotional therapy through the body. Working with techniques in movement, writing, meditation, imagination, touch, and speech. Throughout my late husband, Yossi’s struggle with the disease, I saw how the tools that I have, helped him deal with the physical pain of the disease and the emotional pain, that came along with the understanding that he was terminally ill, and that death was approaching. Our openness and my ability to contain and hold him with all the difficult issues that knowing he was suffering from pancreatic cancer brought with it, helped easing his coping with the disease.
Today In parallel with my work at my private clinic, where I accompany people who have lost their loved one and treat patients with terminal illnesses, I am a student of behavioral sciences. My children continue in their lives despite the difficulty and my two sons are student in the University. my daughter got married this year and made me a grandmother to a cute grandson.

The Impact of Time

early detection is not a play in my story becuse whan the cancer was found it was on stage 4. the gift of time related to my story with The extra time my husband was given to live thanks to his participation in the study of DR. TALIA GOLAN for patients with BRAC2 demage, and received a drug that allowed him to live another nine months without pain until the treatment stopped working and his liver collapsed.