Healthy Laughter

Michael Pitt’s magical skills paid his way through medical school.

And now, at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, he uses a magician’s deft touch and a doctor’s rigorous training to turn an exam into a playdate.

“I watch their faces change, and the rest of the exam becomes easier. By spending that extra minute relaxing the patient, they are more of a participant in the exam,“ Dr. Pitt said.

It’s a chance to use wonder and laughter to trump fear and pain.

At the University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital, Madame Bustier and Grandma describe themselves as doctors of delight.

These professional clowns are really determined to tickle Carly Hoffman’s funny bone.

Light, joyous moments for a four year old who’s battled brain cancer for more than a year.

“When you’re laughing, when you’re engaged, even if you’re in pain, you don’t feel it at the moment you go somewhere else,“ Pam Chermansky, of Big Apple Circus, said.

In fact, wandering the halls here at Comer, the clowns say they’ve found that laughter can be great medicine for people who aren’t sick.

Early research shows actual physiological changes when you laugh, changes that may strengthen your immune system, and help you heal faster.

But Dr. Herbert Abelson who helped bring the big apple circus here doesn’t need scientific proof.

“I know it works from the faces of the kids and their parents,“ Dr. Abelson said.

So in places where patients and families fight to make sure this isn’t a last act, these performers nurture hope—with the promise of more laughter, another day.