GIST 31 Wishes…what does that mean?

Every day, whether consciously or not, we make a wish for the future. Something we hope happens, something we hope doesn’t, something we really want. We at LRG HQ are no exception and we got to thinking that we could turn some of these hopes and goals into something positive and uplifting. Hence, the GIST 31 wishes campaign was born.

During the month of December, we will highlight one GIST wish each day of the month. We’ve named this campaign #GIST31wishes because darn it, we GISTers love GIST word play. ;)

snowflakeEach day, we will post the wishes you have sent our way on social media, with the hope that they will inspire others, bring awareness to GIST and the Life Raft Group, and bring us closer together as a community.

Each week, we will summarize here on our website the awesome wishes you hoping for this year.

Please send in your GIST wishes (they can be one sentence, one paragraph-you decide!) to ekristoff@liferaftgroup.org and we will post it on our LRG social media sites and/or website. And if you’re on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/etc be sure to follow our pages and share our posts so we can spread the #GIST31wishes hashtag and most importantly, awareness.

We are so excited to read everyone’s wishes and work together towards a better future.

Here are the GIST 31 Wishes you have shared with us this week:

Day 9: “My GIST wish is My Art gives GIST a VOICE! ” – LRG Member Ellen Mayer

Day 10: “My wish is for all patients to have the opportunity to utilize mutational testing. The education a patient gains by knowing their mutation will afford them the opportunities to optimize their resources and treatment, and make informed decisions. The value is tremendous and well deserved.” – Kathryn Troy, LRG Program Associate

Day 11: “My wish is I GIST wish everyone could be healthy and happy.” – Teena Petersohn, LRG Member

Day 12:  “My wish is for GISTKids to become successful so that Pediatric and Wild Type GIST patients can build a strong interactive community to fuel research and advocacy while promoting the celebration of life.” -Erin MacBean, LRG Member

Day 13: “My wish for GIST patients is that the “new normal” that they live with every day was a lot closer to their pre-GIST normal. In particular, better treatments for “stable” disease, more tolerable drugs and treatments that aren’t life-long.” – Jerry Call, LRG Science Director

Day 14:  “I wish for strength, patience and support from family and friends for the GIST caregivers so that they have help coping with the stress of being a caregiver.” – Mia Byrne, Member, LRG Board of Directors

Day 15: “My GIST wish is for everyone to partake in a healthy lifestyle. We can all use the excuse that we work too much and there is not enough time in the day to worry about what we eat or if we work out. We need to be proactive if that headache or stomach pain does not go away. If we all take a little time every day to take care of our bodies, I think we can all achieve a healthier lifestyle.” –  Jess Nowak, LRG Office Manager

Day 16: “I wish that every GIST patient would have mutational testing done so they can optimize treatment from targeted drugs.” – Michelle Durburow, Patient Registry Director

View the GIST Wishes Days 1-8

View the GIST Wishes Days 17-23

View the GIST Wishes Days 24-31