Let's Laugh at Cancer!
Laughing at Cancer, One Story at a Time
Wigs and Towels
As my mom wearily parked her car into a handicapped space outside of Bed, Bath & Beyond, and stepped into the hot and humid New Jersey air, an irate young woman approached. It seemed that the woman was furious that someone would park in a handicapped spot who didn't appear to be handicapped, and she proceeded to deliver a verbal diatribe, before turning on her heel into the Bed, Bath & Beyond, leaving my mom speechless and in tears. What was my mom, a quiet and classy woman, to do? She chose to do something quite out of character.
Tracking the young woman down in the towel section, my quiet and classy mother, removed her wig, revealing metal staples in her head, where she had allowed surgeons to operate on her brain, days before, to remove a malignant brain tumor. Now it was her turn to speak. She explained, in short, how she was handicapped. Her staples, from brain surgery. Her surgery, to remove a brain tumor. Her handicapped placard, from her doctor. Her handicap, seizures caused by a little devil called "Glioblastoma Multiforme". Her sense of empowerment, from the understanding that while her doctors used the word, "prognosis", she used the word "miracle". That, she concluded, gave her the right to park wherever the hell she wanted.
Putting her wig back on and turning on her heel, with a smile on her face, she couldn't wait to get home and tell her family what just happened; knowing they would be surprised and proud that their mom, quiet and classy, would do something so - out of character.
Now, it is your turn! Please help by emailing
"Laughing at Cancer" your story. Stories are being collected in hopes of turning them into a book. It is our vision to have this book available to patients with cancer as a reminder that our stories live on forever.
So we, not cancer, have the last laugh.
Stories Can be Emailed to:
storytellers@laughingatcancer.com 
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