Cancer survivor advises love, laughter to others like her
June 11, 2001

By Thom Gerretsen Of the Marshfield News-Herald

A Minnesota woman who survived cancer said she needed tons of love and laughter to get through the experience - and Brenda Elsagher spread both when she spoke to about 150 cancer survivors and their relatives in Marshfield Saturday.

"I wish you smooth sailing," said Elsagher, an author, comedian and hairdresser from Bloomington, Minn.

She spoke at the 11th annual Cancer Survivors Day, sponsored by Marshfield Clinic, St. Joseph's Hospital and the hospital's foundation. The event also featured a performance by the Main Street Conservatory of Dance and social time for people to share their cancer survival stories with one another.

Elsagher said she had trouble speaking to crowds until she developed colorectal cancer 5 1/2 years ago at age 39 and found a need to share her experiences.

"My father told me, 'You just might live,'" and she used that line as the title for a book about her experiences. "You start discovering things about yourself that you never knew you could do. Look at all the positives that can come from something bad."

Elsagher first thought she had routine pain in her hemorrhoids. She didn't check with a doctor until the pain became too much for her to pay attention while cutting others' hair.

"I'd go off and cry between customers," she said. "You don't exactly gain other women's confidence when you've got scissors and you're moaning about your hemorrhoidal pain."

That was just one of many lines that drew laughs from the cancer survivors in the audience.

"Humor can help you through a lot of things," Elsagher said.

In reality, however, the diagnosis brought fear to her and her family.

"We don't have cancer in our family," she said. "These things just didn't happen to us. Little do you know that you'll have about eight to 10 tests when you're diagnosed. And that's just before the operations and the chemotherapy."

Elsagher also said she couldn't believe the support she received from her husband, who's from Egypt, and the rest of her family.

"I just wanted to give up when they (the family) took root, and helped me travel through the desert," she said. "I wanted to be put through the desert one step at a time."

Elsagher said that when she got well enough, she pursued a long-time goal of becoming a comedian by the time she was 40.

"I was in the Twin Cities' Funniest Comedian Contest - 150 young punks and me," she joked. "I couldn't even believe it when I won."

If her experience made her more humorous, Elsagher said it also made her more honest.

"After I won the contest, a reporter called me. We talked about my cancer, and she asked if I ever spoke to groups about it. I said I did. I lied to this person. Then people started calling me to ask if I could speak to them. I was scared at first, but I got over it," she said.

"It makes us more honest," Elsagher said about the experience of surviving cancer. "It gives us more integrity."

Elsagher said she got involved a few years ago in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life, where teams walk around a track and raise funds for cancer research. The North Wood County chapter of the Cancer Society has sponsored a similar event each summer for several years and Elsagher encouraged local people to participate.

"It's so touching," she said. "Cancer survivors walk in this. I feel driven about finding a cure for cancer."