The best medicine

They say laughter is the best medicine, and many cancer survivors are testing that theory, according to USA Today. An article on the lighter side of the deadly disease highlights and features an image from Brian Fies' Mom's Cancer, released earlier this year by Abrams Image:

While some say there's nothing funny about cancer, a growing number of survivors and their families are using comedy to tell their stories.

In March, Abrams Image published artist Brian Fies' graphic novel Mom's Cancer. Marisa Acocella Marchetto, a cartoonist whose work has appeared in Glamour and The New Yorker, has written and illustrated the autobiographical Cancer Vixen, due this fall from Alfred A. Knopf.

Authors say they are not making light of the suffering inflicted by a deadly disease. Rather, they say they're able to express themselves better through cartoons than any other genre.

Fies goes on to talk about how Mom's Cancer, which started as a webcomic, helped him connect with others living with cancer:

Drawing his mother's story helped Fies make sense of the experience. His site attracted thousands of readers, largely through word of mouth, with many following his mother's progress from week to week.

"It was striking how many wrote to say, 'I'm so happy to find out that I am not alone,' " Fies says. "That in turn helped me feel that I was not alone."

Fies is pleased that so many teachers are using Mom's Cancer, including nursing instructors, sociology professors and even the leaders of smoking cessation programs. The book has become a tribute to his mother, who died as the book went to press.

"This book gives me happy memories instead of sad ones," Fies says.