There are different ways to cope with the diagnosis of what can often be an incurable medical condition. Some may want to learn everything there is to know about their condition, while others may seek out support groups for help. But North Park resident Summer Golden, who helps run the North Park Vaudeville and Candy Shoppe with her husband, found comfort in humor after she was diagnosed with myelofibrosis, a rare type of incurable blood cancer that affects the bone marrow.
A longtime local actor and performer, Golden decided to channel her emotions by writing and performing a stand-up comedy routine.
"For a while, I was pretty down then one night I was thinking about it and I had taken stand-up comedy and even performed it in New York a few times. So I knew I was pretty good at it," Golden said. "So I emailed my comedy teacher Tony Calabrese, he's very good, and I said 'do people ever do a comedy routine about cancer?' and he wrote back and said, 'if they really have it they do,' so I said, 'ok, I'm coming to your class.'"
Golden shares her story as part of the KPBS First Person series.
