Out of loss, woman founds cancer support program
The Wellness Community will provide free help for patients, families
BY LINDA DeNICOLA
Staff Writer

Ilene Winters (l) celebrated the 65th birthday of her mother, Cissie, in New York City in March 2002, four months before Cissie was diagnosed with cancer.

Like so many people, Ilene Winters’ first job was not something she chose, but one that chose her. Her new career is one that she picked carefully, but the inspiration for it came from a number of events that left her reeling with questions about what is, and what is not, important.

Shortly after witnessing unspeakable things during the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, Winters found out that her mother, Cissie Winters, had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

Although Cissie put up a valiant fight, she lost the battle and died last year.

Now, Winters, who has lived in Monmouth Beach for the last nine years, is working hard to bring a cancer wellness center to the area.

Called The Wellness Community, it is a charter of a national organization formed in 1989. There are currently 22 Wellness Communities in the United States and overseas with more in development.

The Wellness Community is the largest support program in the country devoted solely to providing free psychological and emotional support to people with cancer, their families and caregivers, and is supported by tax-deductible individual, corporate and foundation gifts and grants.

Winters is holding two informational meetings to tell the public about the organization and to garner support. The meetings will take place at the Monmouth Beach Cultural Center, Ocean Avenue, at 7 p.m. on March 10 and at 7:30 a.m. on March 11.

“I want the public to come to the meetings to find out more and see how they might help with this project,” she said. “I am hoping that many people from the community — business and medical professionals and interested residents — come out to the meetings and offer to help us in this quest to bring The Wellness Community to our area.”

She added that she wants to form an organizational committee that will be responsible for helping to raise funds, find a site for the center and generally see the project to fruition.

Winters became aware of the need for a supportive community when her mother was ill.

“While she had a robust and loving family and countless friends, and was very much a part of her community, there was nowhere for her to go to be a part of a cancer community,” she said.

“People with cancer feel alone. The Wellness Community is a place where people with cancer and their loved ones are invited to join a community of others with cancer who wish to improve the quality of their lives and learn strategies to enhance their recovery process.”

She explained that participants can choose from a variety of groups, educational workshops and mind/body programs designed to improve the quality of their lives, reduce stress and enhance their well-being.

“The programs revolve around nutrition, exercise, stress management and support. All of the programs are offered free of charge,” she said.

There were a number of factors leading up to Winters’ decision to leave her job on Wall Street and turn in a completely different direction.

“I just sort of wound up working on Wall Street by default,” she explained. “I didn’t go into it because I had an inherent interest in the field or to make a lot of money. I had always thought I would go to law school after college since I was interested in criminal law when I was younger.”

Winters said she did a lot of different things on Wall Street. Her first job was on the floor of the commodity exchange, then she moved upstairs to an office and traded stock index futures. She did some marketing and became a retail stock broker.

“I ended as a sales manager in a brokerage office. That spanned 20 years,” she said, adding, “Years went by, the money got good, and my lifestyle kept up with the money. I became a bit trapped by the money, and it was hard to leave.”

But tragic events like the ones on September 11, 2001, made her re-evaluate her life.

“I had been in an earthquake in San Francisco while on the 30th floor of an office building in 1989 and across the street from the World Trade Center bombing in 1993,” she said. “On September 11, I worked directly across the street from the World Trade Center, and you just wonder how many more close calls you are going to be given.

“When my mom was diagnosed in July 2002, that was really the last thing I needed to make a decision to change my life and never look back. Not to be too cliché, but there really is no dress rehearsal for life.”

When she left New York, Winters went back to school to get a master’s degree in nutrition with the thought of counseling cancer patients on how to eat better during and after treatment.

“During the time I was in school, I started a personal training business that I still run today,” she said. “I plan to continue training my clients until The Wellness Community is up and running, when I hope to work there as the executive director.”

Winters said she has always lived for the moment, but her mother’s illness made her more aware of every moment. She said her mother lived her life moment to moment and encouraged her to do the same.

“She always encouraged me to do everything I could as soon as I could and not put things off. As a matter of fact, [my husband] John and I are going to the Tour de France this July, and that is something my mom told me to do just before she passed away. In her last days, the 2004 Tour was going on, and we talked about it a lot. So this trip will be dedicated to her.”

Winters explained that she is also involved with the Lance Armstrong Foundation (a foundation for cancer survivorship, research and advocacy), and was named fund-raising events specialist this year. That position entails talking to grass-roots fund-raisers from all over the country who raise money for the foundation and advising them on how to run fund-raising events.

“I have never been busier, but I can honestly say that I am the happiest — both professionally and personally — than I have ever been.”

Winters believes that the Wellness Community is a community project that everyone can rally around.

“No one’s family is immune from being touched by cancer,” she said.

For information about The Wellness Community, visit the Web site, www.thewellnesscommunity.org.

For informational meeting reservations, call Winters at (732) 263-0444.