by Ethlie Ann Vare
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 9/18/24 – You probably know Nancy Allen best as an actress. She was Sissy Spacek’s high school tormentor in Carrie. Peter Weller’s future-police partner in Robocop. The vixen in Dressed to Kill, the victim in Blow Out… Nancy Allen didn’t plan a detour into helping cancer patients and their families. but that’s what she’s been doing for the past 23 years. Allen is the Executive Director of WeSpark, a Los Angeles-based center that provides totally free wellness services and emotional support for people affected by a cancer diagnosis.
It started in 1998 when Wendie Jo Sperber, Allen’s co-star in 1978’s I Wanna Hold Your Hand (Robert Zemeckis first film) and a close friend, was diagnosed with breast cancer. And cancer, as you know if you or a loved one has had it, affects more than the patient. It affects everyone close to them.
“She had two young children and found there was really nowhere to go for support. There was nothing available for her children,” remembers Allen. “So, she decided to she wanted to open a support center and provide free services for everyone. She was told, ‘No, this is not possible.’ But she did not understand ‘no.’”
Nancy first got involved in a celebrity golf tournament to raise money for WeSpark (the “spark” stands for “support, prevention, acceptance, recovery and knowledge”) and then found herself teaching yoga classes and before you know it WeSpark became her full-time job.
“When I first started working with Wendie, my friends were perplexed. ‘Don’t you miss being creative?’ But this is creative, just in a different way. In the beginning I was creating the whole program: What are we going to be? What are we going to look like? And that was really exciting. Now I have the juice of collaboration, and the daily practice of active listening. It’s very meaningful.”
Wendie Jo Sperber died of breast cancer in 2005 at the age of 47. Nancy Allen kept going. She had found her calling. It was Allen who introduced meditation classes to WeSpark, and then they started doing energy work and hypnotherapy: “We were known as ‘that woo-woo organization.’ Of course, through the years people found out those modalities were extremely helpful in relieving stress and pain and all kinds of side effects.”
The side effects of stress and anxiety, Sperber and Allen discovered, are often as or more acute in the families of cancer patients than in the patients themselves. “When you see a mother and daughter come in, or a father and son, or a married couple… whoever looks worse is usually the caregiver. We’re always trying to get them in for more services for them.”
From one program at the start to seven programs after its first year of operation, WeSpark now offers 40 programs a week in person at its Sherman Oaks facility and more online.
“A lot of people who couldn’t come in for services can receive support and information. The pandemic helped us, in a strange way,” says Allen. “Guided visual imagery works well online, Yoga, of course. Sound therapy. You can teach acupressure online that people can do on themselves.”
WeSpark helps people navigate the maze of medical insurance and acts as a patient advocate when needed. They provide nutritionists and therapists and social workers. And all at no cost.
“It’s hard to give away free services,” jokes Allen. “People think there is some kind of a catch, but no, there is no catch.”
For WeSpark the catch is that they need to fundraise, like any other charity. Next week’s May Contain Nuts comedy gala is their annual banquet, and you are welcome to attend. There is also a run-walk, an annual celebrity golf tournament and a celebrity poker game, plus the recent addition of Drag Queen Bingo.
“Because Wendie and I both have roots in the entertainment industry, we can call a lot of people, and they show up. Jason Alexander holds the poker tournament. I can drop names like Tom Hanks, Robert Zemeckis, Steven Spielberg… the community has been tremendously supportive.”
Would Nancy go back to acting? Make her an offer and find out. Preferably 180 degrees from the do-gooder persona she (rightfully) wears today. “I do like those bad girls,” she says with a sly grin. “I have more fun. Ryan Murphy, I’m waiting! I’m ready to go be someone evil!”
The entire Nancy Allen interview — including the story of her own battle with cancer and a never-before-told anecdote from the set with John Travolta — is posted to The Hollywood Times YouTube channel. Check it out here.
May Contain Nuts
Featuring Alonzo Bodden, Caroline Rhea, Paul Reiser
September 25 6:30pm
Skirball Cultural Center
one.bidpal.net/maycontainnuts2024
WeSpark Cancer Support Center
14724 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 101
Sherman Oaks, California 91403
