Being diagnosed with gastric cancer is overwhelming, both physically and emotionally. Managing the symptoms and treatments is consuming, and mental health often takes a backseat.

It’s important to remember that you are not alone. Feeling isolated is a common experience for those facing gastric cancer, and isolation can exacerbate feelings of anxiety, depression, and distress.

To address the need for easy access to community support, the Gastric Cancer Foundation partnered with an organization called Smart Patients to cultivate a safe and secure online community for patients and caregivers. Through this collaboration, individuals impacted by gastric cancer can connect with others facing similar challenges.

Kathryn Burn, Smart Patients CEO, believes that joining this online community can be instrumental in alleviating the mental burden on gastric cancer patients. "When patients find our online gastric cancer community, they quickly realize they are not alone,” she says. “They connect with others who are facing similar struggles, share their experiences and coping strategies, and empower each other.

Foundation board member and “Chef without a Stomach” Hans Rueffert inspires and encourages anyone with special digestive needs to be open to trying new things that are nutrient rich, gut-healthy and surprisingly tasty! With that in mind, Hans has found a new love for kombucha through the many flavors that are available today. Sip on this bubbly drink to populate your gut with good microbes that will help you break down difficult to digest food.

New technology is proving effective in driving groundbreaking research and treatments in gastric cancer. Here are a few highlights:

A surgeon in China successfully performed remote, robotic surgery on a 51-year-old gastric cancer patient, demonstrating the potential of 5G technology for bringing advanced therapies to remote areas, researchers said.

A research team in China used machine learning to develop and validate a 10-metabolite diagnostic model that they believe could be used to guide precision-medicine approaches in treating gastric cancer.