The Peter Thomas Ride

1000 Miles – 10 Days – 1 Goal

"Riding for a cure"

31 August 2015
St. Malo to uuuNice - France

Diana was 43 when, in 2003, she was diagnosed with GIST. Born and raised in Montreal, she was living in the San Francisco/Bay Area where she had been a resident for almost 20 years.

Trained as a chef, she started a small food communications business. Food styling, recipe development, cookbook editing were all her specialty. The Northern California sunshine and food culture agreed with her and she loved her life there.

After her diagnosis she lasted only 60 days. Her cancer was very far advanced and it ran its course with terrifying and brutal speed. She passed away with family and friends by her side. If nothing else it brought her relief from what had been a horribly desperate and sad time.

To this day, nine years later, her kitchen knives, the tools of her trade, are still razor sharp. Somehow they never seem to lose an edge or become dull. We use them every summer day at family house on the St. Lawrence River, a place where she spent many happy days as child. To hold one of these well-used knives in your hand is to hold a bittersweet reminder of a beautiful woman, a loving daughter, sister and friend who was snatched far too early from those who loved her.

Please support us in finding a cure for GIST.

What is GIST ?

• GIST is an acronym for "gastro intestinal stromal tumour". It falls into the sarcoma category of cancer.
• GIST is a rare gastro intestinal cancer for which there is no known cure. Surgery is the "gold standard" treatment together with glivec, a drug which "contains" the growth of tumours but does not provide a cure. Traditional chemotherapy and radiation therapy do not work.
• GIST tumours often grow quite large before they are discovered and primary tumours often produce few symptoms.
• Exact incidence of GIST is unknown, it is now estimated that in a population size of the USA, between 5,000 and 10,000 people will develop GISTs every year.
• About 40-70% of GISTs occur from the stomach, 20-40% occur from the small intestine, and 5-15% from the colon and rectum. GISTs can also occur in the oesophagus (Less than 5%). Sometimes GISTs develop outside the intestinal tract in the abdominal cavity.
• Typically GIST tumours will metastasise (spread) to the liver and lungs. There are however cases of it spreading to other organs e.g. brain.

See www.gistinfo.com for more information.