Hello, my friend, and welcome to Cancer Can Give! in this special series of the Simplify Cancer Podcast, we share inspirational stories of people who went on a grueling journey through cancer and yet, they found their own way to live, grow and give in a way that helps others. Today, it's my absolute pleasure to introduce Olivia Clarke and we talk about being young adult with cancer and finding the humour where you least expect it. Olivia's got this incredible message of making sense of your experience, through cancer, through humor, and stories and connect and she started Humor Beats Cancer, and she's just this magnificent ray of light out in the world.
Links
Humor Beats Cancer | Chicago | Young Adult Cancer
Humor Beats Cancer | Chicago IL - Facebook
Humor Beats Cancer (@humorbeatscancer) • Instagram
Humor Beats Cancer (@Humorbeatcancer) / Twitter
Video
Full Transcript
Olivia. Well, so good to have you.
Thank you. It's always been so good working with you on different things and stuff. You talked that at our last event about a year ago. Really, your story was funny, but also very moving to and so people really walked away from it feeling so many emotions and stuff. I heard it was especially with yours too, your just your story that you shared about cancer and about just it just made people laugh, but also made them cry too. You hit all of the emotions. It's really nice to be able to be on your podcast.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate your kind words. I remember you opening that fundraiser for humor beats cancer. I think it's been during COVID because we were all online, but it’s just been such a beautiful thing to be there and to see all these amazing people there for this great cause. You put so much care, love into everything that you do like you really you really pour your heart into all of this. It really comes across. It obviously makes a difference for your incredible because, but I want to ask you how does it feel for you? I think it's a big part of it is how does it also make you feel on the inside?
A little bit about me, I had cancer first, breast cancer stage two in 2015. Then in 2017, created Humor Beats Cancer, which is a nonprofit, that encourages using humor and writing as coping tools to deal with cancer. We have to do funny care packages for people going through cancer, we have a grant program, and we do open mics, where people read their funny stories, either virtually or in person. Then we also tried to think of interesting ways on social media to get people's attention and to get them to share funny stories and to connect, so they feel less alone.
For me, when I had cancer the first time and so then I was diagnosed again in last fall, in 2021. This time, it's stage four, and it's metastasized to different organs and such. It has different meanings depending on where I'm at in my cancer journey. When I was in remission, it really was about how can I take my experience and try to find ways to make people feel less alone and to feel and to get them to laugh when that's the last thing they could possibly think about doing?
Usually that's through crude humor and just like having a good time is showing the real point of it is to show two things to show people feeling that they can feel alive while having cancer that they're not gone and they're still you're living and to just to connect people who feel alone.
For me, that's what it's done for me is it really has reminded me, I'm going through the beginning stages of stage four. It's interesting to learn about people who've been going through it for years, and it gives me hope. If someone would have told me stage four cancer, I would have been freaking out and thinking. You can live with it. It can be like something that you live with.
Sometimes it's not, sometimes it hits you; you find out you have stage four, and you have a few months to live.
Simplify Cancer Podcast Episode 086: Popping the Bubble of Cancer with Olivia Clarke | Simplify Cancer podcast - Listen or read transcript on Metacast
