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Humor and Cancer

A lighthearted look at cancer from a patient's perspective

Note: This article first appeared in the Winter, 2001 issue of Progress

Lila Green, three-year ovarian cancer survivor and humor educator, shared her perspective on humor and cancer with the faculty and staff of the U-M Cancer Center at two special presentations honoring the four-year anniversary of the opening of the Cancer Center building this past May.

"Cancer is a bumpy journey, and I have found that humor helps to smooth the road," Lila Green told the standing-room-only crowd of Cancer Center staff and faculty who had helped her through her treatments. During treatment, Ms. Green gave her health care providers permission to laugh with her - not at her. She shared tips for adding a light touch to everyone's personal and professional lives:

• Take work seriously and yourself lightly. Humor is everywhere in everyday life - look for it until it finds you.
• Take a patient's "funny bone" history along with their medical history.
  Find out what toys and games patients played when they were little.
  Ask, "What part of you feels best today?"
• Add a humor board to your office and clinic area - include patients' and staff's favorite cartoons and comical signs.
• Along with introductory pictures of the health care team, display their baby pictures.
• Add a cartoon to your next meeting agenda.
• Leave work at work and go home light hearted - on the drive home think about the most pleasant thing that happened that day at work; blow soap bubbles when caught in a traffic jam.

Humor helps give perspective - it gives distance. "It's like changing a baby's diaper," said Ms. Green. "It doesn't solve the problem, but it sure makes things better for the moment."

See also:

• Survivor Viewpoint: Anna Brower
  this article is part of the Fall, 2005 issue of Progress
  
  
• Survivor Viewppoint: Toni Spano-English
  this article is part of the Spring, 2005 issue of Progress