Newsroom
Former European Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides has revealed that she has been diagnosed with gynecological cancer, sharing the news in a deeply personal social media post.
Kyriakides, one of Cyprus’ most prominent public figures in European health policy, spoke openly about the fear and uncertainty that followed the diagnosis, but also about the gratitude she feels toward the medical professionals caring for her.
“Like every person who hears this diagnosis, I experienced moments of great anxiety, uncertainty and intense emotions,” she wrote. “At the same time, however, I felt gratitude because I found myself in the hands of excellent health professionals, whom I thank from the bottom of my heart.”
For Kyriakides, cancer is not only a private struggle. It has shaped much of her public life and advocacy.
Through the positions she has held, she has worked with patients, doctors, researchers and policymakers to promote cancer prevention, early diagnosis, equal access to quality treatment and medical research.
As EU health commissioner, she led work on Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, an initiative aimed at improving prevention, diagnosis and care across member states.
Now, she finds herself confronting the disease once again, not as a policymaker addressing statistics and health systems, but as a patient facing the anxiety of tests, treatment and waiting.
Kyriakides said she chose to disclose her diagnosis primarily to offer support to others going through the same experience.
“You are not alone,” she wrote. “I know how difficult the moments of uncertainty, waiting, healing and fear are.”
Her message was neither sentimental nor dismissive of the reality facing cancer patients. Instead, she described hope as something practical: the strength that allows a person to face what is happening.
“Hope is not a denial of reality,” she wrote. “It is the strength that allows us to experience it.”
Kyriakides did not provide further details about her diagnosis or treatment, and her privacy should be respected as she begins this deeply personal chapter.
But by speaking publicly, she has done what she has spent years encouraging others to do: bring cancer out of the shadows, acknowledge the fear and remind those living through it that they do not have to carry it alone.
