GIST Resolutions
With the start of a new year, there is an opportunity to make positive changes. Cancer patients face dramatic change in their lives, and chances are they have already experienced a time of reflection [...]
Overcoming the Holiday Blues
Everywhere you turn, the sights and sounds of the holiday season assail you. Before the Halloween candy is sorted and the Thanksgiving turkey is cold, we are reminded of what some call “the most [...]
Night to Fight Cancer 2018
The 15th annual “Night to Fight Cancer” (NTFC) benefiting the Life Raft Group’s research programs took place November 7th, 2018 at Midtown Loft and Terrace. Jerry Cudzil, LRG Board President, was joined again by [...]
Searching for Hope
In this article, Mom Glenda Swinbourn of Australia shares the story of her son Mitchell, a 13-year old with Carney-Stratakis Dyad. It is for patients like Mitch that the Pediatric & SDH-Deficient GIST Consortium was founded.
The Healing Power of Adventure
A cancer diagnosis at any age is life-changing, daunting, and difficult. It can be especially challenging for young adults, people ages 18-39, who are dealing with cancer while also navigating college, first careers, new relationships, starting families, and other young adult milestones. Every year, 70,000 young adults are diagnosed with cancer, and that doesn’t include those diagnosed as children who are now young adult survivors and thrivers. As a young adult with cancer, I know it can be hard finding other people who “get it.”
The Magic of Clinical Trial Math
How to Make 2/3 = 1 (100%) In a recent discussion about the frequency of mutations in GIST, we noted that the most common mutation is KIT exon 11, which makes up about 2/3 [...]
The Pediatric & SDH-Deficient GIST Consortium
Our Commitment to the Biden Cancer Initiative We are excited to launch an innovative initiative to strengthen and advance research for effective treatments of a rare subset of Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor (GIST) patients, who [...]
Biden Cancer Summit Highlights
On September 21st, 2018, Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden convened a national Biden Cancer Summit, with the anchor event in Washington D.C., and more than 450 Community Summits held where people [...]
Elsie María Hernández Saborío – In Memoriam
A tribute by Michael Josephy, LRG Contributor My dear wife, Elsie María Hernández Saborío, passed away August 7th after a long battle with GIST. I miss her greatly. Elsie was born and raised in [...]
The Life Raft Group – Part of the Conversation at CTTI
The Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI) Steering Committee gathered in Washington, D.C. on September 25th to discuss how clinical trials fit within scientific strategies to address public health priorities, review the portfolio of initiatives, [...]