I am a 33 year old maths teacher, I am the mother of three young boys and live in Kent with my partner. I attended the October GIST meeting and did meet some of you then.

I was diagnosed with a large advanced Gist in Jan 2006, it was over 32cm in length, so obviously far too big for surgery and had spread.

Ten days after diagnosis I suffered from the symptoms of an obstruction, this was on the first day of taking Glivec at 400mg. I was in hospital for a week whilst Glivec worked its magic and the obstruction cleared. My Gist was so large that I actually looked 8 months pregnant and was indeed wearing maternity clothes!! But within three months my waistline shrank so much I now look remarkably slim - not bad considering I still have 4 tumours. The largest has shrunk to a 6-7cm, still not small enough to be operated on and since there are quite a few of them I dont think they will operate at all. All that is a bit of a grey area at the moment! Its now been nearly 11 months since I've been on Glivec and I feel fantastic, with only the odd side effect. Long may it last and fingers crossed I am in a good PCT that will pay for more drugs when needed.