The 4th of February was World Cancer Day and as we progress through the year there will be a series of other cancer awareness days, covering each type and also those classified as rare.
GIST cancer awareness day is in July which is Sarcoma awareness month.
We are all very aware of rare GIST Cancer but we need to make sure that researchers and those developing treatments are also made specifically aware of GIST cancer patients’ needs.
We believe that the way to make this happen faster is by connecting patients with researchers and this is why, as mentioned last month, we have joined forced with RareCan who are using technology to support and accelerate research into rare cancers such as GIST.
If you haven’t yet registered with RareCan please take a look at their website www.rarecan.com and if you would like to help speed up GIST research, then please sign up.
We are hoping to create a significant GIST patient RareCan register that will attract interest from researchers and treatment developers.
We have been on the trail of GIST research for the past 11 years and during that time have met many obstacles because of our small GIST patient numbers by comparison to other cancers. We were advised in one European meeting when trying to open opportunities for PAWS-GIST research:
“You are too small, you need to make yourself bigger!”
Well, we make ourselves BIGGER by joining forces with groups such as RareCan and making ourselves visible and open to working with researchers.
You can become a member of RareCan by joining via their website www.rarecan.com and this leaflet explains a bit more.
Please help to attract more research and effective treatments for GIST and PAWS-GIST cancer patients.
