On Saturday October 23, the first regional meeting of Colombian GIST patients was held in the city of Bogotá and sponsored by Novartis-Colombia.
With the participation of 20 delegates, the attendees were instructed on the objectives of the Fundación GIST Colombia (FGC) including its mission, vision, and its alliance with Life Raft Group for its work in education, support to the GISTers of Colombia and their caregivers.
We emphasized the importance of belonging to Alianza GIST. We delivered material about GIST survival, a breakdown of mutational testing, the Life Raft Group Collaborative GIST Tissue Bank initiative, and the first newsletter edition of the Spanish newsletter “La Voz de GIST”.
The establishment of personal contact with patients is very gratifying, and we all shared our concerns, doubts and fears. Meeting our brothers and sisters living with GIST is an awakening, to know that we are not alone and that each passing day we are closer to the final cure.
