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ARTS_ Laughter proves to be best medicine 1 Tîippetts wrotefunny children's poems to help sleep duning illness. First story now publtshed By Stephanie Hounseil CANADIAN CHAMPION STAFF Feeling like the weight o[ the world was on ber shoulders, Claire Tippetts couldnt sleep. Having been diagnosed witli breast cancer, she lay in bced eaclh night and wrestled with [ear and worry struggling to corne to terms with ber illness. Her mnd would drift into dan- gerous temrtory as she wondered if the treatment would work and if she'd be around to see ber six- rnonth-old son grow Up. An advocate of natural remedies, Tippetts didn't want to take the sleeping pifls ber doctor had pre- scribed if she didn'î have to. So sbe came up with her own nightly technique. Surrounded by darkness, Tippetts would compose bumorous children's poems. Line by line. rhyme by rhyme, she'd corne uF with imaginative, laugb-out-Ioud stories about a bost of forest crittert facing dilemmas, including a skunl narned Sarnuel wbo'd lost bis stink. "if 1 took my mmnd off (the dis. ease) and focused on something else, 1 was able to sleep," said Tippetts, 36. That was a couple o[ years ago. Today, Tippetts doesn't have to, recite the story of Samuel rom memory; she can hold it in ber bands and read it. Samuel tbe Skunk was recently publisbed and is now avail- able on amazon.com. Inadvertently, Tippetts bas Iearned that sometimes laughter - mixed with a heathy dose o[ cre- ativity and a pincbi of distraction - is, indeed. tbe best inedicine. But tbe journey to publisbed author - and two-Nvear cancer sur- vvor - \xx asni'î a cuick, or casy one. Var~i lientil t Tippctts rccceîxed the dcxastatiîng diagnosis in October, 2007. fI came as a buge shock, particularly since she was only 34, watcbed what sbe fate, worked oui at the gym and bad fno family history o[ breast cancer. Being a moîber of a young child, Ethan, came with a whole new set o[ challenges, Tippetts said, including worrying about bis future. But Ethan was also a great source of strength. "Some days 1 dont know what 1 would have done (without bim)," she said. s When Tippetts began writing poemns, she had no intention of p doing anything much with them. d But when friends and family told ,s her she should get them published, kshe took the suggestion to heart. Soon it wasntjust the nîgbîs that Tippetts was consumed with furry GRAHAM PAINE / CANADIAN CHAMPON' STORY TIME: Claire Tippetts reads one of her funny childrens poemns to three- year-old son Ethan. little creatures, but the days too as pletely consumes your life. Its like she navigated the world o[ self-pub- an elephant in the roorn," she said. hishing. She enlisted an illustrator, "fi gave me purpose and a focus. jennifer Arena, to bring Samuel îi When youre diagnosed, it com- life. That, she said, was a challeng- m Look for S fyein our oca * p 5Min .E.uMILTON] 878@0931I f or momi ing process in itsel[.0 l1 can't draw, 50 to try' to get My M. picture in my head into her head was difficuit," Tippetts said. Fortunately, one of the 25 skunksO z Arena came up with was just what Tippetts had in mind and pages were fillcd wîth vribrant, [un draw-, ings. The book seils for S$12.99, with a portion of the proceeds going to, the ta Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Today Tippetts continues to ,write poems as a xvay' to relax. par-ý ticularlv before follow-up mnedical ;' appointments. She hopes to publish' more of ber stories. mncluding Bettv ili< 1Bit Il'). 1 liffillocd ]I \lnoLltî îo d li t . lin I a Her son tbînks the stories are great, as do nieces and niepbews. Hers is a -lemnonade [rom lemons" story, Tippetts said. She bopes other women going througb the samie tbing will see its possible to corne out on tbe other side. Sometimes good tbings corne [rom bad things." She's leamred to live in the moment, one page at a urne. "As soon as someone tells you you have cancer, you stop looking at the long teni. You take it day by day," she said, adding had it flot *been for the cancer, she probably would have been a workaholic who eseldomn saw her family Not now "Life's too short." r, Stephanie Hounseil can be reached oat sthiessenCamiltoncanadiandzampi- ;- on.com.