Informative Essay On Cancer

Getting diagnosed with cancer is just about the worst kind of news anyone can get. Approximately 38.5% of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their life (1). Unfortunately it seems that the majority of people don’t have a comfortable understanding about what this disease really is, what the available treatments are, and how they work. Cancer is most definitely always fatal, unless caught in time and treated properly. Just by taking a look at the statistics, it's easy to conclude that it is of utmost importance for everyone to be properly educated on this topic. After all, all our lives will be touched by cancer at some point. It might be your neighbor, your relative, your partner, a friend, or even you who gets diagnosed.
Typical treatments include surgical excision, chemotherapy, and radiation. These methods are often used as the primary treatment against cancer, though they are often very aggressive and not without a fair share of side effects. But, our own immune system may provide one of the best defenses against cancer. Using the immune system to help fight cancer is called Immunotherapy, and simply put, this method boosts the natural defenses so that cancer cells can be destroyed. Understanding Cancer: When most people think of cancer, they may imagine the pain and feelings of hopelessness that a patient experiences upon news of learning about their diagnosis.
Some might picture the struggle of going through serious treatments, treatments that at times don’t work, and only delay certain death. Indeed, battling cancer is a constant struggle, one that is both extremely physically and mentally taxing. But what is cancer anyway? How does it grow/replicate and spread? And why is it so dangerous and
deadly?
Cancer is a disease made up of abnormal cells that divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors and growths that destroy body tissue.
These cells develop and separate so that the body can work appropriately. Cells die when they end up harmed/damaged or old, and new cells supplant them. Cancer emerges and develops when the body's typical control component stops functioning. Old cells don't die. Cells grow without anything holding them back, and make more new abnormal cells (2). The extra cells may begin to group into a mass, called a tumor. It is important to note that there are a vast number of cells with different functions within the body. So cancer is not just one disease, it can afflict different and various parts of the body. Cancer cells can spread to different parts of the body. When these cells spread, it is called metastasis (3). Cancerous cells split from where they initially formed (primary cancer), hitchhike through the framework of the blood or lymph system, and form new tumors (metastatic tumors) in different areas of the body. The metastatic cancer is not any different than the original cancer and tumor (4). For example, abnormal cells in the lung can travel to the bones and develop there, but it's still classified as lung cancer. The reason cancer and metastasis is so dangerous is because their cells are directly derived from the body's own cells. They are our own cells, just slightly changed. This means it isn't easy for the immune system to
recognize them as foreign. It also means it is very difficult to find a treatment that kills cancer because any treatment you can think of - is likely to kill our own healthy cells as well. A good analogy for metastasis is like ink that's been dripped into water. If you react quickly, you can remove the ink with little of the water with it. If you wait - it'll spread quickly and mix. Then its removal would be almost impossible.