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So this Cancer Walked into a Bar … 
Laughter isn’t really the best medicine for a cancer patient, but it never hurts to have a chuckle in the face of adversity. Anne Belcher, a registered nurse and director of John Hopkins University Office for Teaching Excellence, Baltimore, emphasizes the use of humor in her lectures as a healing force for patients. During her time as a cancer nurse, she says she saw the positive effects first hand. “It’s all about living with hope,” she says. “It doesn’t matter if it’s called faith, a sense of optimism, a positive outlook or a good laugh. Mind does matter when it comes to health. So, if laughter or spirituality seems to be helping a patient, I counsel my nursing colleagues to just go for it.” Take heart in these humorous quips that just might give you a good laugh at a time when you need it most. “My veins are filled, once a week with a Neapolitan carpet cleaner distilled from the Adriatic and I am as bald as an egg. However I still get around and am mean to cats.” — John Cheever, writer, concerning his cancer and its treatment; from “The Letters of John Cheever” (Simon & Schuster, 1998) “The doctors said I could still have kids if I have the eggs fertilized in vitro and then find a surrogate. I go, ‘Oh, great. Now I have to meet a guy and a girl.’” — Julia Sweeney, comedienne, following her hysterectomy while battling cervical cancer “A brief digression on whether that suspicious-looking mole is actually cancer … Take this simple test called the ABC test. ‘A’ is for age. What is your age? Is it over 13? If so, it’s cancer. That’s how the ABC test works.” — Al Franken, comedian/U.S. senator “Researches at Yale found a connection between brain cancer and work environment. The No. 1 most dangerous job for developing brain cancer? Plutonium hat model.” — Jimmy Fallon, late-night talk show host “Doctors said that the test most commonly used to screen for colon cancer doesn’t go far enough. They’re recommending a procedure that involves photographing the entire colon. I say, don’t give CBS an idea for another reality show.” — Bill Maher, comedian
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