By Marybeth Matzek
When Efrat Livny graduated from her ovarian cancer treatment in 2001, she felt grateful, yet aware there was something significant missing in her cancer journey. While the doctors treating her cancer did a great job, she felt her emotional needs were overlooked. Her friends and family were also lacking much-needed support and connection with others who were navigating this complex landscape.
After telling a friend how she was feeling, Livny was invited to visit a Gilda’s Club in Detroit.
“I walked in, and I was like, ‘This is it. This is what I’ve been looking for,’” says Livny, adding she decided then and there to bring a Gilda’s Club to Madison.
Livny was drawn to Gilda’s Club because of its focus on the whole person and the friends and family members of those living with cancer.
“There was this wonderful community where people could come together and find support,” she says.
Gilda’s Club takes its name from comedian and “Saturday Night Live” cast member Gilda Radner who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1986. She found support from the Wellness Community in California and called for similar support organizations throughout the country.
Radner passed away in 1989 and in her honor, her husband, Gene Wilder, along with friends and family, founded Gilda’s Club in 1991.
Gilda’s Club provides free emotional support, cancer education and activities to children and adults with any kind of cancer, and those who care for them.
When Livny returned from Detroit, she began pulling people together that she believed would be interested in opening a Gilda’s Club in Madison.
Livny notes it took three years and the persistent efforts of a wonderfully dedicated group of people to do the significant amount of work required to bring Gilda’s Club here.
“There were struggles along the way, including convincing Gilda’s Club to open a club here. They didn’t think Madison was large enough,” Livny says. “And we dealt with mountains of paperwork.”
Sixteen years later, the club is going strong.
Gilda’s Club executive director/ CEO Lannia Stenz praises Livny and the other women and men who worked together to create the organization in Madison.
“Our early founders built a strong foundation so we can provide emotional support for cancer patients and their families and friends,” Stenz says. “Everything we do is 100% free for participants. We work to raise nearly $1 million a year to keep everything free.”
Livny credits the entire group of volunteers whose relentless work was critical to the establishment of the club. She is appreciative of Barry and Cindy Alvarez (a cancer survivor herself) for pushing Gilda’s Club across the finish line. The former UW-Madison coach and athletic director and his wife made a challenge donation to raise funds for construction of the new building and secured a land donation from the Livesey Company.
“So many people have told me how thankful they are that we have a Gilda’s Club in Madison. Helping to start it is my greatest satisfaction,” Livny says.
Livny is no longer involved with Gilda’s Club, but she remains an active supporter and has initiated several other community efforts. She founded Threshold in 2015, a creative, collaborative event and co-working space. In 2016, she helped lay the groundwork and found Open Doors for Refugees, a volunteer-based organization that helps welcome and resettle refugees in Madison. She recently stepped away from helping to run the organization, but remains dedicated to its mission.
“Open Doors is just another example, like with Gilda’s, where people were looking for a way to respond to an important need and just needed someone to spark the conversation and action,” Livny says.
But, she emphasizes, “to get something important done and [have it be] sustainable — it always takes a village.”
