Patty Wooten presents ... 
Interview with Cancer Survivor Christine Clifford
From Journal of Nursing Jocularity, Winter 1997, 7(4), pp 46-47.Christine Clifford is a breast cancer survivor. She is also a wife, businesswoman, author and mother of two young boys. Her first book, "Not Now I'm Having a No Hair Day" (Pfeifer-Hamilton, 1996) reveals how a sense of humor provided her with the strength and courage she needed to face the challenge of cancer. I met Christine at the Booksellers Convention, where somehow, amidst a crowd of 20,000 authors and publishers, we were able to meet and share our mutual interest in therapeutic humor.
Patty Wooten: Christine, please tell us about how you discovered the healing power of humor.
Christine Clifford: I was diagnosed with breast cancer and told I had an aggressive Stage 3 tumor. I was told that I must have a lumpectomy followed by chemotherapy. I was very scared. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 38. She literally gave up on life and within 4 years, she died. I was very upset and depressed when I got my diagnosis. I absolutely believed I was going to die of breast cancer, the way my mother did.
My first experience of the potential healing power of humor came just after Christmas. I was diagnosed just before Christmas and my husband and I decided not to tell the boys until after the holidays. When we told them about the cancer and the medicine that would cause all of my hair to fall out, my son Tim stated: "Cool, now you will look like Captain Picard (on Star Trek)." His response was so pure and innocent, I burst forth with laughter. It was the first time in eight days that I had laughed. It felt so good, so refreshing. I realized that I could laugh again, and that there was nothing to stop me
A few weeks later, I had a very unusual experience. I awoke at three AM, went downstairs and began to draw cartoons about my "adventure" with cancer. I had never drawn a cartoon before, so this was a very strange experience. It was like I couldn't draw them fast enough. After drawing about 50 cartoons, I went upstairs got into bed and asked myself: "What was that all about?"
The next day I went to the library and asked for humorous books about cancer. The librarian looked at me as if I was crazy. She showed me books by Erma Bombeck and Gilda Radner but those books were not entirely humorous. They were tragic too; they made me cry.
I vowed to myself that I would look for the humor in my adventure with cancer. A few months later, my husband and I attended a championship golf tournament in Arizona. We were standing at the sidelines with a large group of observers, TV cameras, and journalists. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew my wig off and onto the center of the fairway. At first I was mortified, but then my sense of humor eased the embarrassment. I walked out, picked it up and announced boldly: "Gentlemen, the wind is blowing from left to right." Everyone laughed and I felt much more comfortable.
PW: What did you do on days when you couldn't laugh?
CC: I think the biggest obstacle to laughter was fear -- fear of the unknown, of what the future might hold. On days when I couldn't laugh about anything, I always found that kids could help me see the funny side of a situation. I recommend that people spend time with children. If you don't have your own kids or grandkids, look for neighborhood kids, nieces, nephews or try volunteering somewhere that has kids. You can also read things kids have written like, "Children's Letters to God". Kids can help us put everything in perspective. When we gain perspective, it helps us to find an "attitude of gratitude" -- I would remind myself that I had a wonderful husband, family, home, job and that this cancer could just be a "blip in the road".
