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Founder's Message
My very close friend, a single mother with a son in university, was diagnosed with breast cancer. I received the phone call from her and we both sat on the floor in our homes and cried. Through her cancer journey I became her caregiver and was with her during her chemo treatment and the subsequent radiation treatment in Toronto. When her treatments were completed, you could almost see a door close behind her. She was alone. No more caring doctors and nurses as they were dealing with the people already there as well as the influx of newly diagnosed people.
It was not long after this that I received a phone call from an 82-year old lady who had just been diagnosed with melanoma and been told to go home! She had no family and no friends. Someone else that I knew was dealing with colon cancer for the third time and she was trying to help three other women who were also living with a cancer diagnosis. These were only three examples of hundreds in the same situation and this didn't even take into account the emotional toll on their families or their caregivers.
There just had to be something better….and luckily there was. In speaking with three other friends who all had skills to “build” something, we sat at the computer for a day and went through all the health sites. When Gilda’s Club came up we knew that this was what we were looking for...it was our mission, our vision and our philosophy. A place for all kinds of cancer. A place for children, teens/young adults, men and women, family and friends to come. A place where you could laugh or cry and where the needs of those living with cancer could be met.
Gilda Radner died in 1989 from ovarian cancer and it was her dream to create a community for people with cancer and their families and friends. It would be a place where they could engage in life-enriching activities, find inspiration and share the wisdom of experience while learning strategies for living with cancer.