Laughing Matter – Woman Resorts to Comedy to Confront the Trauma of Cancer (2002)
To cope with the trauma of chemotherapy, Bonnie Southcott has posed for a series of humorous cards and calendars.
Cancer is no laughing matter, but a woman suffering through chemotherapy is rethinking that.
Bonnie Southcott, of Ferndale, Wash., is teaching people that even though cancer isn't fun, it can be funny.
She was seven months pregnant with her second child Nate when doctors found the tumor.
"In a flash moment, I went from being a happy expectant mother, to being someone afraid for her life," she told reporters.
Minutes after doctors delivered Nate by emergency C-section, Southcott went into surgery. The diagnosis was ovarian cancer.
Suddenly tears and chemotherapy overtook her life. But the lowest moment came after she lost all her hair and a free wig arrived.
She tried it on as her older son Kyler watched.
"I thought I can cry about this bad wig and he'll remember it, or I can laugh about it and he will remember that," Southcott said.
That was when she started laughing a lot, and found it was the perfect medicine.
"I spent a lot of time looking for anything humor-based for cancer patients," she said. "And I'll tell you what: There isn't much out there."
Using herself as a bald model, Bonnie started her own line of greeting cards and a calendar. Each pose pokes fun at the tribulations of chemo.
"We desperately need to laugh," she said. "It's vital to our joy."
Even though Southcott's ovarian cancer is in remission, the diagnosis is no laughing matter – a 25-percent chance she will live for another two years.
She plans to appreciate every moment of motherhood. And she plans to laugh.