http://laughatcancer.com/ is a website founded by Crystal Kauffman, who, after surviving cancer, losing loved ones with the disease, and struggling with ongoing pain, decided to build an online support group for “families in need of support and friendship.”
In addition to providing support for adults dealing with cancer, she also provides help for young people so they can have peer group support and for pet owners mourning the loss of their pets.
Chrystal has instituted an “Honor Wall of Grace” that provides warmth and comfort for loved ones who have lost treasured friends and family member to cancer.
As she writes: “I was so grateful to be a cancer survivor at age 28, but I still had many painful side effects daily. The radiation damage caused my life to change in many ways, due to my inability to walk well. One night, after losing my chemo buddy to cancer, I gained a strong passion to help other cancer patients with their fight and living beyond their diagnosis.”
She shares with stark honesty her struggle to battle this disease: “Honestly, I felt humiliated to be 27 and wearing adult diapers, due to my bladder damage from the aggressive treatment I received. I began using a walker or wheelchair, in order to stay mobile. This decline in my health brought on feelings of depression and worthlessness. After discussing these feelings, my primary care doctor started me on an anti-depressant and referred me to pain management.”
With her grandfather’s support and help, she started the Laugh at Cancer Support Group in Jacksonville, Florida, visiting cancer patients, calling them on the phone, and “meeting” with them on the Internet. “Our mission is to help all families facing cancer's touch and restore hope in families that have been devastated by this disease.”
Why the name, “Laugh At Cancer”? As a cancer victim, Crystal wanted to focus her attention on the celebration of life and abide by her grandfather’s teaching: to laugh when times get rough and never give up on yourself.
Currently in remission, Crystal lives by a simple motto, created with her grandfather, who died of lung cancer June 7, 2007: “Laugh everyday…Drive the cancer blues away!”
