At Gilda’s Night 2025, the annual fundraising gala for Gilda’s Club Kentuckiana, husband and wife Andy and Lauren Simons stood together onstage before 400 guests and Gilda’s Club supporters to share a message both deeply personal and profoundly universal: while cancer has altered nearly every corner of their family’s life, community has carried them through it.  

As parents raising four young children while each also navigating their individual cancer diagnoses, the Simons family has found support, guidance, and understanding through their participation in the programs, services, and community at Gilda’s Club Kentuckiana. Their testimony underscored not only the resilience of their family but the impact of a courageous and compassionate community where no one faces cancer alone. 

A Family Upended—Twice 

Husband and father Andy Simons opened their story with a moment he remembers with precision. “In January of 2020, we had just completed our move to Fort Dix, New Jersey,” he said. At 38, newly settled and raising four children with his wife Lauren, Andy was unexpectedly diagnosed with stage 2 colon cancer. Within weeks, he underwent surgery, followed by genetic counseling and continual scans. “Our lives stopped for a couple of weeks,” he said, “but I recovered… and life seemed to move on.” 

Two years later, the Army relocated the family to Kentucky. “We settled here in Louisville, where we quickly learned the proper pronunciation,” he joked, earning laughter as he emphasized Loo-uh-vul. Andy continued his healthcare monitoring at University of Louisville Hospital, and for the first time in years, the family felt cancer might finally be in the rearview mirror. 

But the week they moved into their home, Lauren noticed a bruise on her breast that didn’t heal. Urgent care visits led to antibiotics, but her instincts told her something was wrong. She pushed for imaging and soon heard the words no one is prepared for: cancer, and a nine-centimeter tumor. She was also 38 when she received her diagnosis. 

“Chemo, mastectomy, radiation, targeted therapy, a new city, no family, no friends—cancer ran our lives for the next few months,” she said. Their children tried to make sense of it, at times assuming that having two parents with cancer was simply normal. Lauren remembers hearing their oldest tell a friend, “Well, my mom and dad both have cancer.” 

Finding a Lifeline at Gilda’s Club 

In the midst of upheaval, a friend invited the family to Gilda’s Club Kentuckiana. “We found a place full of laughter and joy and family events,” Lauren said – “a place where people got it.” 

Within weeks, Gilda’s Club became part of their routine: art therapy, baking classes, family programs, and the comfort of being surrounded by others navigating similar realities. As Andy put it, “Gilda’s Club has helped our family live well. We have seen firsthand how Gilda’s gives families like ours hope, comfort, and community.” 

A Devastating Turn and Emerging Clarity 

A year after her initial diagnosis, Lauren received more devastating news while Andy was traveling for work: the cancer had spread to her brain. “I felt helpless,” Andy told the audience. “I couldn’t race back home to fix it… I couldn’t do anything to help her.” 

He made it home in time to join her at the appointment to schedule brain surgery. The procedure went well, but the metastases continued. “New tumors, more radiation, more therapy,” Lauren recounted. “At one point, I had to get out of the clinical trial that I was in because the cancer was progressing too quickly.” 

Even as treatments multiplied, Lauren described a new clarity emerging. “I live life now with a sense of urgency that I never would have found if it were not for cancer,” she said. 

After one particularly difficult oncology appointment, the couple sat down to put their affairs in order and make a bucket list for the year ahead. Her wishes, however, were not grand trips or faraway destinations. 

“On my bucket list was not Paris or the Mediterranean,” Lauren said. “I wanted to coach my girls in volleyball. I wanted to go to a bluegrass festival. I wanted to teach my youngest to read. I wanted to speak Portuguese with my children. I wanted to live well with peace and grace, reliant on God and his mercies.” 

How Their Children Found Healing, Too 

Throughout the evening, the Simons spoke not only of the support they personally received, but of what Gilda’s has meant to their four children—Hudson, Olivia, Catherine, and Miles. 

Their daughter Catherine attended a Camp Gilda and returned home each day with stories about her new friend named Sutton. “She talked about how Sutton liked ketchup with her chicken nuggets,” Andy shared, “and how she also had a backpack with tubes that gave her medicine during the day—just like mom had.”

Olivia loves participating in Jr. Chef cooking classes, art activities, and receiving handmade birthday cards signed by Gilda’s Club staff. Miles lights up every time he walks through Gilda’s red doors, stopping to play the drum in the lobby, give high-fives to staff members, and then heading downstairs to hang out in NoogieLand and the Game Room.  

And their oldest son, Hudson, has explored some of his hardest questions in Gilda’s art therapy program. “His therapist instructed him to draw a lighthouse and put someone in it who was waiting for him as he rowed to shore through a bad storm,” Lauren said. “Hudson told me he put me in the lighthouse because he knew I would always be there to provide love and encouragement.” 

She paused, then added, “I think that Gilda’s does that for so many of us.” 

A Call to Stand with Families Living with Cancer 

The Simons closed their remarks by thanking supporters who make programs like these possible—not just for their family, but for thousands of families each year. 

“Tonight, we ask you to stand with families like ours,” Andy said. “Your gifts make Gilda’s Club possible. You create a place where no one fights cancer alone.” 

Lauren echoed that call. “You give us a chance to have community, to have hope, to have joy on really hard days,” she said. “From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for making this possible.” 

As the audience rose from their seats, showering the brave couple with applause, the message was unmistakable: cancer may change everything, but community is stronger than cancer.