Reflections on Sharsheret in Israel during Operation Rising Lion
On June 23, 2025, many of us woke up to the news of the Iranian ceasefire with a desire to feel relief at having a reprieve from the sleepless nights and instability on top of an already established Shigrat Milchama (routine of war). However, we woke up to the simultaneous news of a ceasefire and the loss of seven more of our soldiers in Gaza. The pain, the loss, and the uncertainty of what each day may bring is something that has found its way into every community from North to South, and with it, the challenge of living our daily lives, including keeping up with work, school, plans, and trying to look toward the future despite not knowing what it holds at any given time.
When we were first set to open the Sharsheret in Israel office the week of October 7th, we didn’t know how we could proceed given the atrocities and threat to our survival. However, it quickly became clear that the need for support for women, men and families facing breast cancer and ovarian cancer was still there, only now with the added layer of being in the midst of war. We wouldn’t be the ones to solve what was happening on a national level, but we could focus on what we know how to do, and that is exactly what we set out to accomplish.
It’s the support, the education, the outreach and the network Sharsheret in Israel has built over this last year and half that enabled us to continue our work during this most recent conflict with Iran. In less than a two week period we fielded close to 150 calls and messages as well as found ways to hand deliver several pre surgery kits in this war within the war. We have seen firsthand the impact we had imagined would happen, of having to navigate a diagnosis with family members in reserve or active duty, the threat of missiles, and the uncertainty of what will be. Illness doesn’t wait when we are at war, but our emotional bandwidth is less, our nerves are exposed, and an overall fatigue can often be felt in the air we breathe.
When ‘Am K’Lavi’ (Operation Rising Lion) began, our Israel social work team mobilized and reached out to many women who we knew were in the midst of treatment, waiting for surgery, trying to navigate next steps, healing, or possibly in need of support for what they have already been through. We received many calls not just from newly diagnosed women, but from spouses, family members and concerned friends, knowing that they needed support and that they were going to have to make decisions, and get information, despite being at a new level of stress and fear of survival.
We heard the fears and anxiety in their voices surrounding the possibility of treatment being delayed, of surgery dates being unclear, traveling to the hospital with the ongoing threat of missile attacks, running out of cars to the side of the road on the way to treatment, leaving the hospital bed not long after surgery to make it to a protected space, navigating where to sleep when the house didn’t have a big enough protected space for the entire family, and family support networks being spread so thin because of those who had been called back in to reserve duty, and school being cancelled in an instant.
One woman who we recently checked back in with after having had her surgery in the midst of this period of time responded that she thankfully is now doing ok. She expressed that following her surgery she was so focused on just staying alive from the missiles, taking care of her family, getting into the bomb shelter, having children and grandchildren move in with her because they didn’t have accessible shelters and the sirens were constant through the night, that she was probably numb through the entirety of her first week post-op. She was focused entirely on being there for her family and feeling the need to just survive. Once the ceasefire was announced, it all hit her at once. She was tired, sore, and was suddenly in pain and exhausted. She is now gaining strength and doing better, but as she recounted, “We superwomen don’t fall apart until after a crisis. It’s a blessing and a curse. But it’s also just ok.”
We are living in historic times here in Israel, and the superheroes are not wearing capes; they are all the everyday people, all different ages, men, women and children, each finding their way to be productive, live meaningfully, and just breathe. Facing a diagnosis, staying on top of follow up care, annual checkups, or even just being mindful of our health can be a struggle in normal times. But navigating it now, and in particular over these last few weeks is no small feat. We can’t control so much of what is happening, but being in a position to be able to help, thanks to the Sharsheret community we are building here, is something we are so grateful for.
Praying for peaceful times ahead, for our everyday heroes, for a swift recovery for those that are sick, for the return of our hostages and for the protection of our soldiers.