I lost my wife to cancer. As difficult as my transition from a spouse/caregiver back to an individual was, it would have been exponentially more difficult without Gilda's Club.
I am lucky. My family and friends would have done anything for me after my wife died of cancer, but none of them could understand what my group members at Gilda’s Club could understand. Having a safe place to go to share that part of my life allowed me to work out my anger, frustration and sadness. Gilda's Club was the catalyst that enabled me to find a way to move on.
Somewhere around the sixth month of my membership, I started to wonder: Who is paying for all of this? It was then that I knew I had to do something to make sure this type of support would always be available to Chicago's cancer community. For me, "doing something" meant joining the Club’s Associate Board.
Involvement is my way of ensuring that 10 years from now, a 31-year-old who has lost it all and doesn't know where to turn has a resource like Gilda's Club to help him find a way to move forward.