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What Cancer Patients Want Most - To Laugh (Help Them do it)

What Cancer Patients Want Most - To Laugh (Help Them do it)
It's not just an "old adage" that tells us laughter is the best medicine these days. Scientists, doctors, mental health professionals, and patients themselves call humor a remedy for any ailment -- at least temporarily. In the book, 20 Things People with Cancer Want You to Know, the #1 statement in a recent survey of more than 600 survivors is, "I need to laugh – or just forget about cancer for a while." Now there is a resource and you can contribute to the funny file.

It's not just an "old adage" that tells us laughter is the best medicine these days. Scientists, doctors, mental health professionals, and patients themselves call humor a remedy for any ailment — at least temporarily.

Several studies show that humor builds hope, and hope is particularly crucial to people with cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

An acclaimed author and journalist, Lori Hope, utilized a very personal challenge — her own cancer diagnosis — to create a practical guide for people who want to comfort and support a friend with cancer, but don't know what to say. After extensive interviews, she wrote a book, 20 Things People with Cancer Want You to Know.

She says the #1 statement that people with cancer want others to know in a recent survey of more than 600 survivors is, "I need to laugh – or just forget about cancer for a while."

And, this is where you come in…

She's started compiling a humor resource list and needs our help. Will you please contribute your best ideas to the list of funny movies, links to videos or cartoon, and jokes — all designed to help people "laugh or forget for a while".

Check out the page at LoriHope.com and leave your favorites at the bottom of the page with your suggestions in the comments section: Lorihope.com/helpmelive/to-laugh/

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