You’ve been on this GIST journey by your loved one’s side and want to be the best support partner possible.
But this experience is challenging and taxing on you in different ways. And that means that sometimes, you also need support and self-care.
These resources are a good start. They have useful information, tools, and tips for ways to take care of yourself. This will help you stay healthy and continue to be the center of support your loved one will need on this journey.
- GISTTogether.com (a Deciphera‑sponsored website)
- Life Raft Group
- American Cancer Society
- Cancer.net
- National Cancer Institute
Deciphera is not affiliated with these organizations, does not endorse any particular service or group, and is not responsible for the content on their websites or any services or materials they may provide.
Your GIST Experience Is a Journey, Too
Sandra Brackert, NP: You’re not alone in this journey with GIST; there are plenty of resources to help you. You’ve probably already been involved with most of them, but just to name some, there’s GISTTogether, which is actually a Deciphera-sponsored website, so you might get some new information there that you haven’t seen before. And, of course, there’s The Life Raft Group, and GIST Support International are all good resources and have a lot of great information and support for you.
Also, QINLOCK has a QINLOCK.com, and you can get more information there. If you have questions and if you want to talk to your oncologist about QINLOCK, you can refer them to this website, and they can get a lot of information, as well.
Unfortunately, I know finances and co-pays are always a problem in our health care system. They’re frequently major sources of stress. Deciphera does have a resource for you called AccessPoint. I usually have patients fill out the AccessPoint form at the same time that I send out the prescription.
What this does is it can provide some financial help. Sometimes the co-pay is too high and you may be eligible for assistance. Sometimes it takes too long to get the prescription through, and AccessPoint may be able to supply a short course of QINLOCK to get things started. They can also help with insurance questions, like whether your plan covers QINLOCK, or how much you might have to pay out-of-pocket.
Whether you have Medicare, or private insurance, or no insurance, you definitely want to make sure that you check out AccessPoint. They can help you get financial assistance that you're eligible for, or help you get medication to you because, really, we want to make sure that you get the best drug for you, for your disease, and we don’t want financial problems to be the reason that you cannot get it. So please, please use Deciphera AccessPoint for help.
“When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: You haven’t.” I say this because we see now that we have a treatment that works a little differently than the prior tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and it is a really great option for people with advanced GIST who have gone through several other lines of treatment.
I thank you all very much for your time. I hope we have given you some insight into another therapy and have answered any of your questions, and that you know there are resources out there for you and a drug that may be able to benefit you. Thank you very much.
Arun Singh, MD: I want to thank everyone for listening today, and we also were pleased to share this information about QINLOCK with you. And we think that this is a great addition to the armamentarium for treating patients with advanced GIST. Thank you.
Everyone needs help figuring out their insurance plan and how to pay for treatment.
Deciphera AccessPoint™ is here to point the way.
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