A CARD meant to bring laughter to the lives of the seriously ill has only managed to offend one Suffolk woman.The card, from Sue Ryder Care which runs a home in Ipswich, landed on Pearl Bird's mat on Saturday morning and left her shocked and upset by what she read.

A CARD meant to bring laughter to the lives of the seriously ill has offended a woman in Suffolk.

The card, pictured left, from Sue Ryder Care which runs a home in Ipswich, landed on Pearl Bird's mat on Saturday morning and left her shocked and upset by what she read.

The bright pink card was in the form of a joke card and asked the question, "What do you get if you put a cancer patient, a bloke with MS and a nurse together?" The answer was laughter.

Although the card was aimed at showing the good work the group does and how they manage to bring happiness in to the lives of terminally ill cancer patients, for Mrs Bird it was a bit too close to home.

"I thought it was a joke when I first saw it but then I realised it was genuine. My husband John died two years ago of cancer and it was not a happy time.

"He had a very long battle and this card just seemed like an insult and is in very bad taste. Especially at this time of year when people will be really missing loved ones," said Mrs Bird of Mayfield Road, Ipswich.

Sue Ryder head of communications Steve Taylor offered Mrs Bird his "sincere apologies."

But he said the card was designed to put across a very important message in a deliberately provocative way.

He said: "There's a lot of laughter in our care homes.

"It's a big diversion for us to make use of humour. But we did a lot of consultation in our care homes and the main message was it's not all doom and gloom.

"Fundraising is a difficult job. In order to stand out, sometimes you have to do things that attract people's attention in different ways. It was not something we decided to do lightly."