HUMOUR THERAPY CAN CURE CANCER

PETALING JAYA (Malaysia), Feb 27 (Bernama) -- As the old saying goes,
"laughter is the best medicine."

Medical expert Dr Alvin Chong Saturday said even 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 spread 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 up.

"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 Abdullah Ahmad Badawi here 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 Endon
Mahmood, had lived her life to the fullest even after she was diagnosed with
third-stage breast cancer.

"Throughout her last five years 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