This page is intended to publish stories of real G.I.S.T. patients and their care givers. If you would like your story published, please e-mail it to Julie Cramer and it will be posted on this page. Pictures are welcome as well. 

Cry, Think, Laugh, Feel, Hope

By Cass Roberts (G.I.S.T. Patient of 10 years).

There is always a dream. Without dreams we would be lost. My name is Catherine (Cassie). My story is extraordinary, as I am fighting for the rest of my life. I am a cancer patient. I have a rare cancer called GIST, Gastrointestinal stromal Tumors, which was diagnosed in 1999. Ten years later, I should be long gone and in heaven with the rest of the brave men and women who fought for their lives.

We cancer patients have our own war.

When someone has told you that you have cancer, you think, you feel, you cry, and some people laugh. Since I was told, I have learned to love more deeply and to feel. I feel my heart beating. My soul is open to more things that I ever thought or imagined. I see more things and I laugh differently. I think more openly and give in to what I was handed by God. I am here for a reason. (Why? I don’t know.) But it all fell into place.

See, they have been searching for a cure for all kinds of cancer. Many people have died from what I have. For some reason, The Good Lord wants me to show everyone that He works in wondrous ways. It is funny how age differences don’t mean a dang thing when cancer is handed to you. People connect, bond, and love so much differently. They seem to express more and look at things with a different set of eyes. Survival sets in and you fight for every step of your well being.

 I have been through hell and back and I keep fighting. I was the 51st person in the United States to have an experiment procedure at University of Penn Hospital in Philadelphia, photodynamic surgery. (What a ride that was!) But I did it! I was given really no chance, but I wanted to live! I am stable and holding my own since I have been on Gleevac for nine years. I have learned to sacrifice and try to go on. All cancer patients do.

I go to Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. If you go, look, watch and listen. You will see so many different people: young, old, black, white, yellow…it doesn’t matter. When the word “cancer” comes up, you are just a number. That’s part of the puzzle. That’s the funny part. You do what you have to do to live. You love, you laugh and you cry, but most of the time, you think, pray and hope.

There is so much more to tell of my life as I move on after losing my wonderful sister, who fought to survive with brain damage since the age of one, and my mother, who cared for my sister until her passing, then went home to be with The Lord in June of this year. We come from a strong family of survivors.

What God gives us is amazing. You meet every challenge that you are faced with and recognize that every opportunity is golden.
Be blessed with the knowledge that you have. You have the ability to make every day special. This is my extraordinary story.