By Olivia Clarke
“Every time you find some humor in a difficult situation, you win.”
When I got cancer I wrongly assumed that life’s daily kick-you-in-the-ass moments would disappear. Surely I wouldn’t do embarrassing things or put my foot in my mouth because life gave me cancer. But that is not true for any of us.
When you add in cancer on top of life’s “keep you humble” moments sometimes you get humor. Sometimes you can’t help but laugh when you look at what life’s dealt you.
Sometimes you can’t help but look at the positive side to motivate yourself to keep moving forward. I have found that people would assume that when you have cancer you lose your sense of humor, when really there are moments when you look at the ridiculous things cancer does to your life and the only thing you can do is laugh. And sometimes that humor can be dark, silly or plain-old dorky.
There is plenty of humorous fodder for young adult cancer patients, survivors and their caregivers. Dating, marriage, raising young children, traveling, working full-time — all while dealing with cancer — can create humorous and poignant stories. This blog is to share those funny moments to create a sense of empathy and to put a smile on the faces of those dealing with cancer. There are too many sad blogs, books and websites and this is not one of them. This is a place to be irreverent, cuss a little bit and share those humbling moments. We’re all family on this blog.
As friends and loved ones can attest I definitely know how to embarrass myself and be a complete weirdo. Cancer may have taken my hair, but it did not take away my ability to sometimes say the wrong thing or to trip on my ass. I hope you enjoy the blog and please share your stories with us.