A year with Yasemin: And everything back to the beginning

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

More posts by Christiane Fux All content is checked by medical journalists.

We spent a year together with Yasemin. Today she says goodbye to us and we realize: The year ends just as diagonally as it began.

A few days ago Yasemin was still running through the fields with Yoko, her crazy Chihuahua. “Without getting out of breath!” She reports in an interview with After a risky laser operation that reduced the benign tumor in her throat, she was able to breathe freely for the first time in years.

The tumor returns

But happiness is short-lived: a few days later, she is pretty bad again. She feels a big "lump in her throat". “In the meantime, I just croaked like a frog,” she reports. The CT images in the Heidelberg Clinic confirm what she already fears: the lymphoma has swollen again - and to a previously unprecedented size. Proteus syndrome is the name of the genetic disorder she suffers from and which also gave her the tumor in her throat.

Many attempts, little success

In order to get it under control, she has taken on a lot in the last two years - a so-called sclerotherapy, which was supposed to shrink the tumor, but remained ineffective and also brought her into an artificial coma, a traumatic experience. And finally, as the “last option”, an immunotherapy costing many thousands of euros, which she wrested from the health insurance company - but which she then tolerated so badly that she had to discontinue it. “Everything was swollen with me: legs, face, lips,” she recalls. She also suffered from itchy eczema all over her body.

Lasers - or would you rather not?

But what is happening now seems like a bad movie for good. After the bankruptcy with immunotherapy, Yasemin sends a cry for help to the world via her Instagram account. Whether there isn't a doctor somewhere who has an idea that might help her. And in fact, a renowned surgeon reports who trusts himself to laser away the tumor.

“It seemed like a miracle to me,” says Yasemin. But then this doctor sends her back to her original treatment center in Heidelberg without having achieved anything.

Again, surprising for Yasemin: They are now also confident about such a laser operation. “I was pretty surprised - they used to say that lasers were way too risky. Now I was allowed to ask myself why I had to torture myself so much for the last two years. ”But of course she was happy about the new opportunity that the operation opened up for her.

When doctors are at a loss

But when she finally sits in the hospital, minutes before they want to prepare her for the operation, she receives a call on her smartphone: Another of her doctors urgently advises her not to have the procedure - he had discussed it with an expert in Bremen. "He said lasers would only make things worse," says Yasemin. But there it is already in the operating room machinery. Especially since your surgeon is still confident that everything will go well.

But when the surgeon inspected the result after a few days, he himself was affected: "He said: 'I didn't imagine it to be like that.' Great," reports Yasemin. As a result of the operation, the tumor, which can be imagined as a liquid and cell-filled balloon, initially lost volume. But it fills up again quickly and now presses the windpipe with even more force.

"Still, I'm grateful that the doctor tried it," says Yasemin, who only slowly finds her way back into her stand-up mode with a lot of strength. She has her next appointment in four weeks. Then the doctors wanted to reconsider. The odyssey, it goes on.

All the best, Yasemin!

We accompanied Yasemin for a good year, through a rollercoaster of hope, disappointment and new courage. Her gift of perceiving the funny side even in difficult moments, her ability to regain her strength after every setback, her courage and determination not to give up or sink into self-pity, remain her strongest allies. Above all, she gives courage to many people.

Dear Yasemin, thank you very much for your trust and the great openness with which you told us your story. We wish you all the best and good luck!

Your NetDoctors

If you want to find out what happens next with Yasemin, Yoko and the tumor, you should follow her on Instagram: yasemins_verrueckte_welt.

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