Our History
Cancer Support Community Colorado has its origins in Gilda’s Club Denver, a
nonprofit organization incorporated in Colorado in 2000. Gilda’s Club Denver was
a provisional affiliate of Gilda’s Club Worldwide, which merged with The
Wellness Community in 2009 to create Cancer Support Community.
Featured in the original cast of Saturday Night Live, Gilda Radner charmed us
and made us laugh. But not everyone knew she played another role. She was
diagnosed with ovarian cancer on October 21, 1986 and died at the age of 42 on
May 20, 1989. She wrote about her experiences living with cancer in her book
“It’s Always Something.”
Part of her legacy was her inspiration for Gilda’s Club Worldwide, a free cancer
support community. Gilda was part of a cancer support community after her
diagnosis and her dream was that anyone dealing with cancer would be able to
receive the kind of support she found there. Following her death, her husband
Gene Wilder and her cancer psychotherapist Joanna Bull started Gilda’s Club, and
the first one opened in 1995.