It is with great sadness and shock that I share with you that Yasmina Ykelenstam, former CNN journalist and creator of HealingHistamine.com, has passed at age 43. Yasmina survived many challenges during her lifetime, from reporting in war zones to an extreme histamine sensitivity that caused anaphylactic reactions, and has now succumbed to the latest – the very rare and ultra aggressive “triple negative” breast cancer with a typical survival rate of just a few months. It is a testimony to her strength and determination that Yasmina survived with the disease for two years, documenting her journey to beat the odds in a blog post.

Yasmina was forced to quit her career as a journalist when her severe food reactions became unmanageable in 2008. She took her investigative background and applied it with vigor to her health issues, creating her website HealingHistamine.com in the process. The science-based and experiential dietary information she shared with those suffering from histamine sensitivity, mast cell disorders, and related conditions has helped many thousands of people around the world find increased health and healing from very severe and disabling symptoms. The chronic illness community is shocked and devastated to hear of her passing. Here at Planet Thrive, we send our love and support to her family and entire online community who now grieves this great loss.

A huge thank you to Yasmina for all of her hard work and for creating a lasting legacy on her website — with many ebooks and online courses still available for those who need guidance. I personally bought all her ebooks years ago and read through all of them, applying many of the concepts she shared to my own dietary approach. Her family has plans to keep her site and offerings available to the public, as they shared in this statement on her Facebook page:

It is with deep sadness that we announce the peaceful passing of our beloved Yasmina last Monday in her Venice home. Her multi-faceted beauty and resilient, radiant spirit, however, will live on in our hearts and mind.

As you know, Yasmina battled, bravely, in her short life through war zones and health complications. Yet, she never gave up and would not want you to. Creating Healing Histamine was a transformative experience and gave her life renewed purpose. Sharing this journey with you meant the world to her.

Because it was Yasmina’s deepest desire to keep Healing Histamine alive we are, currently, working on creating a legacy that will truly honor her and kindly ask for your loving support. While we grieve, privately, rest assured that we will continue to reach out to all of you, the sympathetic community she closely identified with and dearly cared for. We are working on providing you all with ongoing support, and will be making further announcements at the appropriate time….

Much love to you Yasmina as you make your way to other dimensions. We are glad you are no longer suffering, but will miss you greatly here on this plane.

Find out more about Yasmina: About Yasmina
Visit her website: HealingHistamine.com
Check out her e-cookbooks: The Anti-Cookbook … and other titles
Read about her cancer journey: Fasting (and Medicine) to Beat Aggressive Breast Cancer
Read Beyond Meds Monica Cassani’s article about Yasmina: BeyondMeds.com