Laughing at multiple sclerosis? Sure, why not?

This post is a shameless plug for a book by my friend, Carol Corsini Ervin. It's called The Lighter Side of MS: Life, Laughter, and Sucking It Up.
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Carol, who worked at ABC News in New York for 30 years, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1988. That afternoon, she got teary-eyed when telling a friend. It was the last tear she shed for herself.

Her book is the story of how she has dealt with her illness  -- by finding the humor in it. As Carol explains it, with apologies to Leslie Gore, "It's my disease and I'll laugh if I want to."  If you have to use a cane, she reasons, why not name it Erica, after Erika Kane, the infamous All My Children bitch? If your legs give out suddenly, causing you to collapse into the arms of ABC anchorman Peter Jennings, who falls to the floor with you, you could cry with mortification. Or laugh about it. That's what Carol does.

Other than Miss America by Howard Stern, Carol's book is the only book that has ever made me laugh out loud. It is impossible not to when you turn the page and find a chapter that begins, "My first marriage isn't worth mentioning. But the wedding certainly is."

Not only is The Lighter Side entertaining, it's well written. That's rare these days.

The net net:  If you have MS, know someone who has MS, know someone who knows someone who has MS or, if you're simply looking for a summer read that will make you laugh out loud and forget whatever troubles you may think you have, which pale in comparison to MS, order The Lighter Side of MS today. It is available through amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com for $14.95. Can't wait? Order the Kindle edition for $9.95 and, five minutes from now, you'll be laughing.Trust me on this.