Laughing Through Cancer
- Grammy Award-winning duo Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer recently created “All Wigged Out” a musical comedy that takes viewers through all the highs and lows of Marxer’s seven-year fight with cancer.
- Marxer says Fink was her “guardian, [her] clarifier with the doctors, [her] confidant and encourager” during her cancer battle. Now, the tables have turned as Fink faces her own battle with breast cancer.
- There’s nothing inherently funny about cancer. But humor can be used to help process everything you’re going through.
- Hodgkin lymphoma survivor Chelsey Gomez started making bluntly humorous stickers for cancer patients after she dealt with a reoccurrence just a year after her initial diagnosis.
- Breast cancer survivor and comedian Jenny Saldana wrote a funny "dramedy" while on bed rest following reconstruction.
Marxer and Fink are partners in life and in work. But the latest from the Grammy Award-winning duo centers around Marxer and her battle with breast cancer. Described as a “heartwarming musical comedy [that takes] us through Marcy’s many stages of diagnosis and discovery with hope, grace and her unique style,” “All Wigged Out” takes viewers through all the highs and lows of Marxer’s seven-year fight with cancer.
Read MoreMarxer says her favorite line in the musical comes from a song called “Car Wash”:
“For me, cancer is a lot more like being dragged through a car wash.”
Her favorite song happens to be one she wrote with Fink “Two Peas in A Pod.”
“It's easy for me to collaborate with Cathy,” Marxer told SurvivorNet. “A writer needs to be able to totally trust a collaborator.”
Marcy Marxer and Cathy Fink’s Cancer Battle
Marcy Marxer was 58 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her disease was caught after a regular mammogram, and she tells SurvivorNet she “had no symptoms at all” prior to the diagnosis.
Thankfully, Marxer had Cathy Fink by her side every step of the way.
“Cathy, friends and listening to music kept me going through treatment,” she said. “Cathy kept a close watch over me. She was my guardian, my clarifier with the doctors, my confidant and encourager. I don't think I could have made it through without her.”
Jill Kargman on Relationships and Cancer
Now, the tables have unfortunately turned as Fink faces her own battle with the disease as of mere months ago.
“We are living in a little chapter that we’re calling ‘The Irony and the Ecstasy,'” Fink recently told NPR’s Leila Fadel. “I’m working with our team that’s promoting ‘All Wigged Out,’ partially from my chemo chair.”
Finding Humor Through Cancer
- ‘You Can’t Cancer and Chill’: Comedian and Cancer Survivor Quincy Jones Uses Humor to Point Out Absurdities in Healthcare System
- Finding Your Pink Tutu — A Story of Love, Marriage and Laughing Through Cancer
- Stand-Up Comedian & Cancer Caregiver, Jesus Trejo Reminds Us That ‘Laughter is a Game-Changer’
Marxer says humor will likely be crucial in Fink’s journey ahead. As for her advice to other cancer warriors, she says, “share your diagnosis if and only if you want to” and “take it one day, hour or minute at a time.”
“Cancer is not a death sentence,” Marx told SurvivorNet. “Make the best decisions you can with the information you have each day. If the info changes, make your next best decisions. Repeat as needed.”
Finding Humor in Cancer
There’s nothing inherently funny about cancer. But, as we saw with Marcy Marxer’s story, humor can be used to help process everything you’re going through.
Hodgkin lymphoma survivor Chelsey Gomez found comfort in humor, too. Her cancer relapsed just a year after her initial diagnosis, and she was then fired from her job. Distraught and confused, the hard worker took some time to let everything sink in before deciding to share a funny but blunt TikTok about the experience.
That video went viral, and led Gomez to create and sell humorous stickers centered around the topic of cancer.
Woman Fired After Cancer Relapse Gets Real About How Hard Cancer Can Be With Bluntly Humorous Art
"I was sick and tired of seeing only cancer products that said, you're strong, you're so brave, you're amazing," she said. "The first product I ever made was 'my lymph nodes are an asshole' because that's how I felt about them.
"Like, my lymph nodes have caused me cancer twice. They're supposed to be nice for everyone else, but mine are an asshole."
Breast cancer survivor and comedian Jenny Saldana also found humor in her cancer experience. She even jokes, "if it wasn't for cancer [she'd] suck at comedy" because her parents love her.
MORE: Jenny Saldana Found Humor in Her Cancer Journey, And Turned it into a "Dramedy"
Similar to Marxer, she decided to write a play about her cancer journey while on bed rest following reconstruction.
"The play is actually a dramedy," she said. "There are a lot of funny moments in it.
"But it's about the struggle of finding your new normal, when you go through something like this."
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