The 2011 Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS) conference was held in late October this year in Chicago. If the meeting had a GIST theme it would have been “imatinib and surgery.” The LRG was honored to both present a poster and conduct a presentation, both of which were very well received.

On November 12, 2011, Dee Hawkins hosted her first Life Raft Group local group meeting as Local Group Leader at the Cancer Support Community Center in Dallas, Texas. An intimate group of GIST patients and supporters living in the area gathered to reconnect with and meet other GISTers...

A new phase I/II clinical trial will soon be opening for pediatric and young adults with GIST. This trial will be testing Sutent (sunitinib), the currently approved second-line treatment for GIST, in young patients. At the current time, the optimal dose for Sutent is not known for pediatric patients. This trial will help assess the safety and tolerability of Sutent in young patients.

Since February, I have been training for the Marine Corps Marathon on 10/30/11. I'm very happy to announce that I actually finished that thing. Can you believe it? The same person that had a hard time finishing the 3.2 miles in Sea Girt finished 26.2 miles in hilly Arlington and Washington D.C. It was a long training road filled with highs and lows, and I can't say that the marathon went completely smooth either, but I finished and got a really sweet medal for it.

The LRG remains committed, now more than ever, to find a cure for GIST. In the meantime, we will continue to provide support, advocacy and education to patients and families during their GIST journey. We need your help to keep these efforts strong.

Life Raft Group Canada held its third successful annual general meeting (AGM) on November 5 in the West Coast city of Vancouver, British Columbia. The event began with a talk by Dr. Cheng-han Lee of the department of pathology and laboratory medicine at Vancouver General Hospital and University of British Columbia...