CANCER...scary word isnt it?, we have/will know someone who is suffering from it, my family has been deeply affected, as have many others, the statisics are frightening, 1 in 3 of us !!!!

There are many charities i could raise for, some close to hand,Non- Hodginkons, Leukemia, and then there is Macmillan, and the Elenors, however, after a chat with friends on New Years Eve, i heard about a brave mutual friend, who with great dignity and amazing courage, is battling a rare form of this awful disease, all i have too worry about is finishing a bloody race, and catching my flight home.... y'know.. This amazing lady is called  Kim, and her words knock mine out of the park, so i'll hand over, needless to say, PLEASE give what you can, and i'll do my very best..(hope i don't get beaten by a pot noodle!)

Hi, my name is Kim Lawlor and i was diagnosed with a very rare cancer called GIST in 2006. It was a year after the birth of my third son Daniel that the diagnosis was made but by then the tumours were very large, over 32cms and i was inoperable with lots  of mets.
I have three sons Conor 15, Sean 8 and Daniel who is now 6 (i am so happy that i am still here and he will remember who is mummy is).
GIST is a type of sarcoma -soft tissue cancer, mine started somewhere in the pelvis and grows in the spaces between the bowels without causing any symptoms which is why it got so large before being diagnosed. 
 
I have  been lucky enough to live the last five years on new cancer drugs designed for other cancers like leukemia and kidney cancer but i have now run out of options and am hoping trials will open for more targetted drugs that stop my particular type of cancer.
 
My cancer is different to GIST in older people, without getting to technical mine is similar to GIST that affects children and teenagers, although there is research into what drives our cancer. there are very few trials in this country due to the small numbers affected. This is why i would really appreciate any support for PAWS-GIST (pediatric, adolescent and wild type GIST). They are a very small charity set up by a mum whose teenage daughter has GIST. PAWS GIST is bringing together all the experts in europe together to give a voice to younger people who need the trials  to be opened up for our very rare cancer.
 
As an example there is currently a drug trialled in the UK which is likely to be beneficial to PAWS-GIST but at the moment it is only being trialled in patients with breast cancer, if the pharmaceutical companies were more aware they may open it up to PAWS-GIST patients also. Your support will go along way to helping this small charity and make a real difference to children and young adults in the UK with this rare and incurable cancer.