thestar: Humour therapy can ease cancer pains

Published: Saturday February 27, 2010 MYT 6:43:00 PM

PETALING JAYA: As the old saying goes, "laughter is the best medicine." And doctors are encouraging cancer patients to try it.

Medical expert Dr Alvin Chong said on Saturday cancer patients were encouraged to engage in humour therapy to reduce the stress they were having due to the illness.

He said several studies had revealed that humour therapy could ease the pain suffered by cancer patients as the laughter could prevent the cancer cell from multiplying and spreading to other areas of the body.

"When you make a person happy, it's like a natural mechanism in the body. The immune system will be boosted.

"Nowadays, there are many theories saying the reason why certain people develop certain types of cancer is because their immune systems are weak as a result of stressful lifestyles."

He said this after the launch of Cancerlink Foundation's silver jubilee celebration by former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi here on Saturday.

Dr Chong, who is also a volunteer at the foundation, said the humour therapy was mostly conducted by humour experts as part of the effort to cure cancer patients.

Earlier in his speech, Abdullah also advised cancer patients to be strong in fighting the illness and engaged themselves in outdoor activities.

He also shared his experience on seeing how his first wife, the late Datin Seri Endon Mahmood, had lived her life to the fullest even after she was diagnosed with third-stage breast cancer.

"Throughout her last five years of living with breast cancer, Endon was more active than usual. She did not give any hint to the public that she was in pain. She just lived her life like nothing happened," he said. Endon succumbed to cancer on Oct 20, 2005.

Meanwhile, the Cancerlink Foundation also received a donation of RM80,008 from Sime Darby Foundation to implement its cancer awareness programmes.

Cancerlink Foundation was established in 1986 with the aim of providing cancer-related information as well as emotional and practical support for cancer patients and their families and friends. - Bernama