Serious, chronic illness is not funny. If left untreated, it can kill you.
My friend's father was diagnosed with diabetes some years ago. He worked long hours and didn't eat on a regular schedule. Yet he was overweight, probably because whenever he did eat he fueled up on fast food and soda. One day he fainted while repairing a car in his backyard and was diagnosed with diabetes. He vowed to change his lifestyle, and tried for a while. He joked with me about "catching the sugar" and "taking the needle," but those wisecracks took the place of treating his illness. His health rapidly deteriorated. He had to face amputations and loss of vision, but kept laughing — I suspect out of the sheer terror of realizing that he was dying of a preventable illness.
