THEY say laughter is the best medicine and for Belfast writer and lecturer Christine Hamill, it was the humour of Harry Hill that helped both herself and her then 10-year-old son through her breast cancer journey. It also served as inspiration for her young fiction novel, The Best Medicine.
"I know you can't laugh yourself out of cancer. But sometimes you can laugh yourself out of despair and once your mood improves you can start making decisions that improve your health," says the 53 year-old, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008.
"One Saturday night shortly after my breast surgery I was in kitchen struggling to make the dinner when I heard my son laughing hysterically in the living room. I peeped and saw that he was watching Harry Hill on TV and I joined him. I was laughing so much I forgot I was miserable for half an hour. After that, Harry Hill was regular viewing for us. It was such a relief and respite to be laughing. And somehow the seed of the idea for this book was planted."
It was another year until Christine started writing The Best Medicine. "I’d been listening to my son and his friends talking about teachers, life and school and I realised all the complicated things they had to cope with in the first years at secondary school. Add in a sick parent and that’s a lot of stuff to deal with.
"I knew I wanted to write a book about a child coping with a sick parent – any sickness. I chose cancer because I had cancer and knew what was involved. I also knew the comic potential it had with the boy's mortification of having people talk about his mother's boobs."
Although not autobiographical, Christine admits her own experience of her cancer journey did influence the book.
"The main character is an only child – my son is an only child. The boy’s mother is a lone parent – I am a long parent. She gets cancer – I got cancer. They struggle – we struggled, but the plot and the things that happen them are made up."
Aimed at the over-nines, The Best Medicine tells the story of 12-year-old budding comedian Philip and his adventures with school bully The Yeti, his crush on the Goddess, the Romantic poets, an annoying chihuahua and his best friend Ang. It also tenderly explores Philip’s hilarious and touching attempts to cope with his mother’s embarrassing diagnosis.
Through it all, Philip is writing letters to his hero, the comedian Harry Hill, looking for advice. He asks him questions such as 'Has anyone ever cried when you told them a joke?' and 'Did you know that a side-effect of chemotherapy is that it makes everyone look like a weird version of you?'
Christine gained permission through Harry Hill's agent for the comic to be included in the novel and his trademark glasses to feature on the book cover. And just last month she was thrilled to receive a letter from the man himself.
"Dear Christine, Thank you so much for sending me a copy of your wonderful book. I'm flattered and thrilled that you thought to include me... and very pleased... that my old shows did you a little bit of good. Long may you continue," wrote Hill – who studied medicine before embarking on a career in comedy.
So what did Chrsitine find so therapeutic about Hill's comedy?
"I love Harry Hill because he is totally daft and his programmes are good clean fun. Recently, I've loved his Professor Brainstorm films and can't wait for his new show Harry Hill’s Tea-Time on Sky 1 in the autumn. And he supports charities like CLIC Sargent. As Philip says in the book – what’s not to like?"
While the book is aimed at tweens and teens, Christine says the book is for anyone of any age looking for some light relief.
“This is a book for anyone who wants a laugh and a good read – not just for people experiencing cancer."
On a more serious note, she hopes The Best Medicine "gives permission" to children coping with a sick parent "to keep on living and laughing".
"Life goes on for a child even as it stands still for the sick parent. Children can feel guilty for getting on with their lives and having fun at a time like that. But of course they shouldn’t. I wanted to show how this boy got on with his life and I wanted to say that is OK," she adds.
Christine admits she struggled with her cancer diagnosis and agonised over revealing the truth about her sickness to her son.
"When I got the news I went home and took the phone of the hook and didn’t tell anyone for ages. I was diagnosed in mid-September and it was mid-January before I told my son the truth – well after surgery, radiotherapy and after hormone therapy had started.
" I kept finding reasons not to – he had to do the 11-plus; it was his birthday; it was Christmas. I suppose that must have inspired the storyline in this book where Mum can't tell the Philip about her cancer.
"I was afraid that if I said the cancer out loud as it would make it real but the fact is there is no good time – you just have to do it. Informing them gives them some feeling of control and inclusion. I asked my son some time afterwards what would he have done if I hadn't hold him I had cancer and he told me he wouldn't have forgiven me."
Christine, who grew up in Dungannon, published her first book B is for Breast Cancer in 2014. The non-fiction book was an insider's guide to the emotional and physical challenges faced by breast cancer patients presented in an A-Z format offering bite-sized chunks of help and hope.
She is currently writing her next novel – this time adult fiction. As she started both her previous novels during her recovery from cancer, she admits that "now I find it almost impossible to write anywhere but in bed".
:: The Best Medicine by Christine Hamill is published by Little Island Books and is available now. BBC Radio Ulster's Kim Lenaghan will be launching the book at the Crescent Arts Centre on June 18 at 3pm as part of the Belfast Book Festival. Belfastbookfestival.com
