09/02/2026
Sharon Osbourne was shut away in a dark room, the curtains drawn. She had been diagnosed with colon cancer in July 2002 and told she had about a 33 percent chance of survival. Chemotherapy was ravaging her body and she was so weak she considered stopping treatment. Downstairs her family was falling apart. Ozzy Osbourne, her husband, did not know how to save the woman he loved.
Ozzy remembered Patch Adams in 1998 where Robin Williams played a doctor who used humor to help patients. He did not know Robin personally but called and asked if he would speak with his wife. Robin said yes, dropped everything and went to the Osbourne home. He walked upstairs, sat beside Sharon for about two hours telling stories and doing impressions. Downstairs the family heard something impossible through tears, Sharon laughing, truly laughing through tears. The next morning she got out of bed, showered, dressed and returned to the hospital to resume chemotherapy.
Sharon completed treatment and survived. Years later she said she was stunned not only by his talent but by his kindness. He owed that family nothing but showed up. Robin Williams died on August 11, 2014 and the world mourned a comic genius, but the Osbournes mourned the man who restored light in a dark room. The three panels show Robin in a striped blazer with Sharon in black with red hair, laughing and hugging at an event. Both Sharon, born October 9, 1952, and Ozzy, born December 3, 1948, are alive today. When has laughter felt like medicine to you?
