Laughter, life's best medicine

THE POWER OF LAUGHTER—A group of about 25 humanitarians from throughout the world joined internationally known doctor Hunter "Patch" Adams, far left, on a "clowning" trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg last month, during which they wore funny clothes, painted their faces and behaved silly in public to spread love, laughter, peace and healing to children in 17 hospitals, orphanages, hospices and mental institutions. Camarillo resident Judy Lucas was invited by Adams to make the trip and help spread the world's best medicine. Judy Lucas never wanted to be a clown.

But last month the 60-year-old Camarillo resident and longtime educator became one when she accompanied Hunter "Patch" Adams on a humanitarian tour of Russia.

Lucas, a retired special education teacher who now works as an education therapist, was taking personal enrichment classes last year at California State University Channel Islands when Adams, an internationally known activist, visited the Camarillo campus.

Adams—a medical doctor who believes in the healing power of love and laughter—was portrayed by Robin Williams in the 1998 film "Patch Adams." The founder of the Gesundheit Institute lectures around the world and leads volunteer clowns on humanitarian trips to countries on six continents.

When Lucas attended his lecture at the university, she was so inspired by Adams she decided to write a children's book about him.

"Almost every word that comes out of his mouth is brilliant," Lucas said.

She wrote to Adams, telling him of her wish. He wrote back saying he was interested but busy: He travels about 300 days a year.

The two continued writing to each other and found they had much in common. Lucas told Adams about her daughter's two years spent as a Peace Corps volunteer in Haiti. Adams wrote back that he'd recently returned from a clowning tour there.

She sent Adams a copy of an article she had published this past February in an international adoption foundation magazine. It told of her experience in 1968 as college student volunteer in a Korean orphanage. Lucas had helped an underweight infant receive medical care and ultimately find an adoptive family. Adams responded that he's familiar with the orphanage—it's one he's visited while on his clowning tours.

"Every time I told him something about myself it seemed like (it) was something we could connect with," she said.

After four months of writing back and forth, Adams finally agreed to an interview. Lucas sent him her questions in advance and on Easter morning interviewed him over the phone.

"At the end of it, I realized . . . there's much more to him," she said.

Lucas asked how she could get to know him better. Adams suggested she join him on one of his clowning tours.

Be a clown

She approached her family with the idea. Her two adult daughters were skeptical. Altruism aside, "you're just not funny," they told her. Her husband, Ted, was concerned about her well-being in a foreign country but supported her goals.

"It's so exactly like something she would do—it's such a giving thing," Ted said.

It was settled; Lucas would join Adams and about 25 others from around the world on a clowning trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg from Nov. 8 to 22. They would pay about $4,000 each to wear funny clothes and face paint, acting silly in public to spread love, laughter, peace and healing to children in 17 hospitals, orphanages, hospices and mental institutions.

But Lucas had never been a clown before. To learn, the veteran teacher turned to books but panicked after reading about routines that included cartwheels and magic tricks.

She phoned Adams with her doubts days before she was supposed to fly out.

"Just bring yourself and your love and your . . . compassionate heart—and bring a red nose," Lucas said Adams told her.

The advice worked. Lucas transformed into Juju the clown. She played the autoharp for youngsters who had tested positive for HIV, danced with terminally ill children, blew bubbles and crafted origami figures for kids recovering from bone marrow transplants. Whenever possible, Juju and the other clowns held the children in their arms.

One of her more memorable moments came when the group visited a school for deaf, blind, mute and autistic children during a dance class. When she entered the room, Juju accidentally missed a step and slid across the room on her knees. In pain but staying in character, Juju rolled onto her back and played dead. The children burst into laughter and cheered her performance.

Trying to catch her breath, Lucas sat up and spotted a small boy sitting alone and holding several pieces of bread. She limped to him, and he handed her a piece of bread. Thinking it was his lunch, Lucas handed it back. But it was a gift, and the boy quickly returned it to her. Moved by his generosity, but without pockets, Lucas tucked the bread into the waistband of her baggy pants.

Without missing a beat, the shy "little angel-boy" reverently tucked in the other four pieces of bread, she said.

Lucas was moved by the people caring for the children, noting the tattered shoes of the dance leader, how the soles flopped open when she danced, exposing her feet. The woman had "danced her shoes off for the children," Lucas said. She also remembers a little girl with terminal cancer at one hospital who laughed throughout their entire visit.

Laughing through tears

But the clowns weren't laughing when they left the hospitals. Lucas said she felt outraged at times and, like others, broke down in tears. Bringing sunshine and love to children in dire circumstances seems hopeless, the clowns told Adams. Lucas said the physician told the group that it's important to focus on one person at a time and pour all you have into making that person happy while you're there.

The clowns also turned to one another for comfort, empathy and understanding, she said. They buoyed their spirits by visiting Russian landmarks and taking in a ballet recital and a clown and marionette performance on a rare day off.

In a phone interview last week, Adams said it was fun to watch Lucas invest more of herself into Juju the clown as she gained confidence.

"And she does it from the purest heart," he said.

The volunteers wore their brightly colored clown outfits from the moment they left home until they returned, except while on the sightseeing tours. They clowned in airports and airplanes, subways and buses. By the end of the trip, Juju was engaging people in conversation everywhere she went, Adams said.

People willing travel to another country at their own expense, working all day and often into the night to bring laughter to children who are suffering, are those who would find the experience rewarding, Adams said. The emotion it stirs is similar to holding your child or someone else you love, he saidAdams said he's considering

Lucas' proposal to write a children'book about him. He said he likeher persistence and that she investherself in whatever she's doing.

"I like Juju so much," Adamsaid. "Her heart is in the righplace—she wants a better world."

What did Lucas, the veteran educator, learn?

"I learned that when you give to other people anywhere . . . you get a lot more back than you evegive," she said. "Giving from a heart of love can heal the giveand the receiver."