“My dream is to keep raising my little ones”: Inbal’s battle with breast cancer

To mark October, breast cancer awareness month, Maccabi Tel Aviv FC and the Maccabi Tel Aviv Foundation, in collaboration with PUMA, are launching a special initiative aimed at raising awareness of the disease and the importance of early detection.

 

 

As part of the initiative, a pink PUMA anthem jacket has been launched and will be sold throughout the month at the club store and online. Proceeds from the sales will be donated to the ‘Gam Ani’ (I too had breast cancer’ association, chosen by Inbal Harazi because of her personal and meaningful connection with the organisation. As part of the campaign, Maccabi players will walk out for matches wearing the pink jacket, helping to give the cause greater visibility and raise awareness among fans.

Behind the initiative is also Inbal’s story, a woman who turned her personal battle with breast cancer into a mission she has pursued for years.

 

At the age of 36, and a mother of two young children, Inbal Harazi felt a small lump in her breast. She went to a breast surgeon, underwent tests and was told that nothing unusual had been found. But Inbal felt something was wrong and continued going back for further examinations.

“I remember asking the doctor to send me for a mammogram, and he asked me what I was so afraid of?” she recalls. “I told him: I’m afraid I won’t be able to continue raising my children. That was my greatest fear, that I wouldn’t get to see them grow up.”

 

That fear was particularly personal for Inbal. Her mother died of colon cancer and did not get the chance to see her grandchildren grow up.

For around six months, Inbal continued undergoing tests and examinations. When she felt the lump had grown, she decided to see another breast surgeon, who sent her for a biopsy.

Ten days later came the phone call she would never forget.

“Inbali, it’s Sarah from the health clinic. The surgeon would like to see you. I’ve made you an appointment for today at 16:30. From that conversation alone, I knew something wasn’t right” she recalls. “When my husband and I arrived, the doctor told me with a heavy heart that he didn’t have good news and that I had a malignant tumour. At that moment, I felt as though the ground had opened beneath my feet.”

That was the beginning of her journey at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer. Inbal underwent a full bilateral mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and continues to receive treatment to this day.

 

What Inbal went through transformed breast cancer awareness into a genuine mission for her.

“When people say ‘early detection saves lives’, it isn’t just a slogan. The earlier the disease is detected, the better the chances of recovery, and depending on the individual case, the treatment can also be less complex.”

For Inbal, the most important message is to be aware and listen to your body.

“It’s important to see a doctor or breast surgeon, mention any family history and, in accordance with medical advice, undergo the appropriate tests. And from my own experience, if something doesn’t feel right, don’t ignore it. Ask questions and keep investigating.”

A large proportion of Maccabi’s fanbase is male, but as far as Inbal is concerned, the message of Breast Cancer Awareness month is very much relevant to them too.

“Men can have a huge influence on the women in their lives and encourage them to get checked. It’s important to remind them how important it is, from a place of care and love.”

Sometimes, a simple reminder to a partner, mother, sister or another woman close to you can encourage her not to postpone a test or examination she had been planning to undergo.

 

Throughout October, PUMA’s pink jacket will be at the heart of Maccabi’s awareness campaign. In addition to being sold at the club store and online, the players will wear it as they walk out for matches, as part of the effort to bring the message to as wide an audience as possible.

Part of the proceeds from the jacket’s sales will be donated to the ‘Gam Ani’, (I too had breast cancer’ association, which Inbal chose because of the significant role it played during her own battle with the disease.

‘Gam Ani’ is an incredible association that has been working on a voluntary basis for years on behalf of women undergoing treatment and those who have recovered,” Inbal explains. “It provides a support network that includes emotional support, physical activity and various other activities for women dealing with and recovering from breast cancer and other female cancers.”

“It’s one of the organisations that supported me from the very moment I was diagnosed. It has a large community of thousands of women, and at any moment I could ask for advice about what I was going through and receive answers from women based on their own experience. Today, I have many friends from there who have shared this journey with me.”

 

Her battle with the disease also changed the way Inbal looks at life.

“After going through something like this, you gain perspective. I remember that during chemotherapy I would walk the dogs through the green fields near our home and suddenly I looked at everything differently. How beautiful the green was. Something that wouldn’t have moved me at all before suddenly became something enormous.

“You learn to appreciate things you once took for granted and understand that nothing should ever really be taken for granted.”

Throughout her journey, the says, her family and friends were her greatest source of strength.

“My husband never left my side for a second, and my children were the ones I fought for with a strength I never knew I had. During that period, my older sister was like a mother to my children, while my family and friends surrounded me with a kind of support I will never forget. I was blessed with friends who moved heaven and earth to find me the best doctors and be there for me 24/7. Today, I consider them family.”

From a personal dream to a nationwide campaign

Inbal’s experience also inspired her desire to do something for other women. Nine years ago, she launched a nationwide breast cancer awareness campaign, which she continues to lead voluntarily to this day with the help of professionals and volunteers who support her.

“I sat down and thought about how I could encourage women to get checked and perhaps prevent them from going through the suffering I went through. I wanted to do something genuine, from the heart, something that would touch women.”

That was how the campaign was born. At its centre was a photograph of Inbal alongside her two sons, with her most personal dream placed front and centre: “My dream is to keep raising my little ones. What’s your dream?”

“It was important for me to smile in the photograph and hold on to hope” she says. “Going to get checked doesn’t mean, God forbid, that they will find something. But do it for yourself, for your children and for your partner.”

 

Today, Inbal often finds herself on the other side of the conversation. Women who have just been diagnosed turn to her, and she tries to give them what she herself needed at the beginning of her journey, hope.

“Today I have the privilege of speaking to women who have only just discovered they have the disease and showing them that even amid all the fear, there is light and hope. Being afraid is the most natural thing in the world. When you receive news like that, it can feel as though the ground has opened beneath your feet.

“But then you enter the marathon of life. You focus on the here and now and take it one stage at a time. It is a difficult and extremely challenging period, but you get through it.”

And the message that has accompanied her for the past nine years is one she continues to share today:

“My dream is to keep raising my little ones. Keep smiling – and go get checked.”