Lisa Marie Mary

Gilda Radner (1946-1989) was an iconic American comedian, actress, and original cast member of Saturday Night Live (SNL)... For ten months, doctors told Gilda Radner to relax. When they finally discovered what was wrong, her cancer had already spread. In early 1986, Radner was one of America’s most beloved comedians. As an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, she had made Roseanne Roseannadanna and Emily Litella household names. She was married to actor Gene Wilder, and the couple were building a life together away from television. Then something changed. Gilda began experiencing sudden spells of exhaustion and mental fog. Sometimes she could barely keep her eyes open. An internist suggested Epstein-Barr virus and told her not to worry. But the symptoms kept coming. She developed painful bloating, abdominal cramps and shooting pains in her thighs. On a trip to Paris, the pain became so severe that she doubled over on the street while Wilder searched for a taxi. They consulted specialist after specialist. One suggested ovulation pain. Another suspected a stomach problem. Examinations and tests failed to explain what was happening. According to Wilder, one doctor called her a nervous, emotional woman who needed to relax. Gilda kept asking the same frightening question: Could it be cancer? She was reassured again and again. In October 1986, ten months after her symptoms began, doctors finally diagnosed ovarian cancer. During surgery, they discovered that the disease had spread to her liver and bowel. Wilder later recalled that Gilda responded with relief as well as terror: “Thank God, finally someone believes me!” She underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. After a period of remission, she returned to television in 1988, appearing on It’s Garry Shandling’s Show and joking openly about having had cancer. The audience cheered. But the disease returned. On May 20, 1989, Gilda Radner died at 42, with Wilder at her side. Wilder spent years speaking about the diagnosis that had come too late. He helped establish a hereditary cancer program in her name. Gilda’s experience also inspired Gilda’s Club, offering support to people living with cancer. For months, she had been asking doctors to find the cause of her pain. When they finally did, the answer was the one she had feared all along.

Sandra Clarke, founder of the No One Dies Alone program.... Not everyone goes to their deathbed surrounded by loved ones— which is why an Oregon nurse enlisted an entire hospital (everyone from kitchen workers to carpenters) to make sure that no one dies alone. At a large medical center in the Northwest, while making her rounds, a veteran nurse checks on a frail, elderly man who is near death. "Will you stay with me?" the man asks, his voice barely audible. "Of course," she says, meaning it. "As soon as I check on my other patients." . . . . In 1986, nurse Sandra Clarke experienced a moment that stayed with her for years. An elderly, terminally ill patient asked her to stay by his side, but she had other patients to care for. When she returned about 90 minutes later, he had died alone. The experience left her deeply affected by the thought that nobody should have to face death without human companionship. In November 2001, Clarke helped establish No One Dies Alone (NODA) at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Oregon. The program recruited volunteers to sit with dying patients who had no family or friends available. Volunteers offer comfort by holding a hand, reading aloud, or simply sitting quietly beside someone in their final hours. What began as one nurse’s painful experience grew into a movement adopted by hospitals across the United States and beyond. Its message is simple yet powerful: sometimes, the greatest gift we can offer another human being is our presence. No one deserves to face their final moments feeling forgotten or alone. Her idea took nearly 15 years to become reality. After the patient died in 1986, she spoke with fellow nurses about creating a volunteer network to sit with dying patients, but the idea initially went nowhere. She continued working and carrying the memory of that night until, in 2001, a hospital spiritual-care director overheard her discussing it and encouraged her to write a proposal. Clarke eventually created a training manual and shared it widely, reportedly distributing more than 1,500 copies without copyright restrictions so other hospitals could establish their own programs. Her goal was never recognition or profit, but to ensure that other patients would not face the same loneliness.