Dannii Minogue told the British magazine Cosmopolitan that she is convinced laughter cured her older sister Kylie's breast cancer. While the prognosis was always good, Dannii admits both sisters struggled to believe everything would be fine, so they dressed up in silly clothes and watched comedies to keep a positive attitude and spirits up. Can laughter cure cancer? Not by itself -- but there are numerous studies that show laughter initiates a powerful biological process of feel-good healing chemicals that support and strengthen the immune system. We have done several posts here, here, here, here and here about the healing power of humor and the laughter associated with it. So, even if it seems farfetched and unrealistic for Dannii to believe that laughter cured her sister of breast cancer, she might be more right than she is wrong.
1. I am 40 and recently underwent chemo for my breast cancer. I was going thru a divorce and single at the time, so that made it harder. But I did manage to muster some laughs now and then, and I swear, it helped get me thru it.
Posted at 7:45PM on May 12th 2006 by Jacquie