She speaks from experience
Executive director of the South Bay’s Cancer Support Community Judith Opdahl in the reflecting garden at her office. Photo by David Fairchild
Cancer Support Community’s Judith Opdahl knows her busines
Back in 1994, in the middle of a wide-awake moment during a restless night, Judith Opdahl knew what she wanted to do with the rest of her life.
And not long after, her prescience came true. She was selected as executive director of the South Bay’s Cancer Support Community. “With 40 applicants, I was fortunate to be offered the position,” she said during a recent interview in her sunny Redondo Beach office at the Pier.
Already familiar with the organization’s (formerly The Wellness Community) services for medical reasons of her own, Opdahl recounted her ordeal with 4th stage colo-rectal cancer only four years before she got the job.
“After about six weeks of aggressive treatment in and out of the hospital at UCLA, I truly didn’t know whether I would live,” she said. “I needed help to deal with all the remaining unknowns.”
Someone referred her to The Wellness Community.
“Although my friends were very helpful, I needed to be with people [in my condition], so I began attending a weekly support group. It was the best decision I made in my fight for recovery.”
And during her past 18 years of leadership, Opdahl has watched the Community grow from nine programs a month to more than 140 offered throughout the area including satellite locations in Harbor City, Torrance, Long Beach and San Pedro.
Following a 1,000 square feet expansion to the Redondo Beach headquarters in January, “We are now able to offer more exercise programs and expand our kids’ programs,” she explained, adding that “this is in addition to our support groups, doctors’ lectures and networking groups that we’ve offered here for years.”
All told, nine leaders in assorted areas comprise the paid administrative staff, including Opdahl. Tom May, LCSW, is program director. Five therapists and psychologists comprise the facilitating staff. All of them have private practices but donate their time to the Community, she explained. This is also the case of the various exercise instructors whose classes include Tai Chi and Hatha Yoga. “They’re here because they’re committed,” she said.
Only the administrative staff is paid, according to Opdahl, who was lavish in her praise for the corporations, foundations, municipalities and individuals whose sustained support through the past 25 years have made it possible for the Community to offer all their services free to anyone in need of them. “It’s an amazing program,” she said.
“We operate on a very tight budget of $800,000 a year,” said Opdahl.
Other sources of income, she added, are the six Cancer Community-sponsored events that she organizes each year. “We are especially excited about our special fund-raisers—they’ve now become annual events,” she said. “Our Undiscovered Chefs Dinner, Fido and Friends Dog Walk and Girls Night Out have been very popular,” she noted, including the group’s major event, Celebrate Wellness, a Food and Wine Tasting Event scheduled for 3-7 p.m. Sunday, June 24 at the South Coast Botanic Garden.
According to Opdahl, 23 restaurants, 16 beverage and 17 other organizations are participating in the June fund-raiser. Tickets are $135 each, and can be obtained by calling 310-376-3550 or visiting www.CancerSupportRedondoBeach.org.
And all this energy to raise funds is geared toward service for a major cause, she said. “What we hope to achieve,” Opdahl explained, “is to provide support, education and hope for anyone suffering any kind of cancer.”
According to the Cancer Surveillance program, she noted, more than 40,000 cases of cancer are diagnosed in Los Angeles County every year. “Several of our clients come from other areas of the county because they can’t find programs they need in their own community,” she pointed out, citing one woman who came all the way from the Valley for a specific type of support group not offered in her area.
As for the nation, “We’re involved with every cancer organization in the country,” she said, adding, “but we’re not beholden to them, although they do fund some of our programs.” Headquarters are in Washington, D. C.
Area-wide, the Cancer Support Community of Redondo Beach owes its origins to Dr. Harold Benjamin, who in 1982 opened the first Wellness Community in Santa Monica–where he practiced–to serve cancer patients and their loved ones.
Five years later, a group of interested South Bay residents familiar with Benjamin’s program, raised the money to open the second Wellness Community nationwide, Opdahl explained, pointing to individual photos mounted on a wall in a light-filled hall. “These are our visionaries,” she said, naming Elise Asch; Anne Clary, MFT; Jean McMillan; Thomas Simko, MD (now chief of staff of Torrance Memorial Medical Center), and Joost van Adelsberg, MD.
As for the January name change, Opdahl noted, “The word ‘wellness’ is no longer as unique as it used to be, and certainly not as descriptive. The new name, Cancer Support Community, eliminates any confusion as to our purpose. Besides,” she added, “it now shares that name with more than 100 locations worldwide including 57 U.S.-based and two international centers with 73 satellite and off-site programs—plus online support at www.cancersupportcommunity.org.”
As for Opdahl’s early life, she grew up in Rock Island, Illinois, was motherless at nine and working in a dime store at 14. She attended Augustana College in Moline, Illinois, met the man she married at church, and they moved west in the ‘60s, “because there was nothing to keep us in the Midwest.”
Once in Southern California, she said, they built a successful real estate development business on the Peninsula and in Iowa. And they had two sons, both of whom are still in some aspect of the business, literally learning from the ground up: One is in construction. Both are now married and live in Torrance where the “bright star in my life lives.”
“Grandson Stone [4] fills me with such joy and happiness that it brings tears to my eyes to talk about,” Opdahl murmured. “When I was sick with cancer, I could not imagine that some day I would experience being a grandmother.”
But there she is, seeing Stone at least once a week and in a position where “I could not be more proud to continue leading an organization that has helped thousands of people fighting cancer. With the help of present and past donors, staff, volunteers and Board of Directors and Professional Advisory Board of local physicians, I would love to see a cure for cancer some day, but until that time comes, no one needs to face cancer alone.”
As for Opdahl, that’s her goal, because “I’m healthy and can give back.” PEN