The Majors Family

Anne Majors clearly recalls November 2008, when her husband Keith, 43, was diagnosed with brain cancer.  They were living “in the middle of nowhere” in Mississippi.  Keith was the football coach at Alcorn State University in Claiborne County.  Surgery and treatment required them to go back and forth to Jackson.

Anne met Keith when she was a student at Widener University.  She played basketball and he was a young football coach.  In the course of their life together they moved six times.  The life of a collegiate coach can be nomadic.   “You are relying on 18 and 19 year olds to win games,” Anne said of Keith’s career.  But football was in his blood.  He played while a student at Northwestern University in Chicago.

But in the fall of 2008 they found themselves without family and friends nearby.  If the treatment wasn’t tough enough, travelling back and forth to Jackson was rough.  Anne’s parents were also clocking a lot of miles between their house in South Jersey and Claiborne County—coming in to help with the Majors’ three children:  Jada, Madison and Ayden.

These logistics drove them to the decision of moving in with Anne’s parents in Sea Isle City.  Last September they found Gilda’s Club South Jersey.  Keith attended Wellness and Anne went to Family and Friends.  The children, now 10, 6 and 2 years old went to Noogie Nights.

“The first night my children went to Gilda’s my oldest daughter asked me if all the kids had someone like Daddy.  When I told her ‘yes’ she realized that she wasn’t alone. That was very important.  They just love coming to Noogieland,” Anne said.

Keith died on April 2, 2010.  Anne reports that today the children aren’t afraid of talking about their Dad.  “It was a really horrible thing that happened; but Gilda’s has made it so much easier to deal with because we can talk.”

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