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Thrive On!

Paul's Posse

Paul's Posse

George Demetri Thank You

Dear Paul and Members of Paul’s Posse,

Words are completely inadequate to express my heartfelt thanks to everyone for the extraordinary support of our mission here at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute given by all the members of Paul’s Posse through the Pan Mass Challenge. Since joining together with a shared vision only three years ago, this team has raised more than $1 million for research to advance our understanding of GIST so that we can use this knowledge to develop new targeted therapies to help patients.

At the deepest level, this is a testimony to the warmth and respect that we all feel for Paul, and our research team and I are inspired to work harder every day to make the very best use of these important funds. In these challenging economic times, we make sure that every dollar for research goes as far as it can towards finding new breakthroughs and offering patients effective new treatment options as quickly as possible, as if our own lives depend on this (since other lives do depend on this). We are so happy to tell you that these funds are enabling our team to make some of the most rapid translations of laboratory discoveries into clinical application. In collaboration with colleagues across the world, our team has been privileged to be at the cutting edge of some of the most innovative new drug development projects in GIST and other cancers.

We simply could never accomplish all that we do in our research without the "grass roots” support of Paul’s Posse, the PMC, and the generosity of all the individual donors who have made this possible. The Posse has a remarkable spirit, and that spirit has been transformed into the support that powers our research and care mission here at Dana-Farber, and one in which we are working in collaboration with experts around the world to reduce the burden of GIST and other cancers for patients everywhere.

I hope we can all celebrate together again next year, and I certainly hope to share with everyone more results from our very promising work in this field.

POSSE UP, and thanks again to everyone for keeping the spirit thriving!

George D. Demetri, MD