Informative Speech On Cancer

Did you know that 1/2 of all men and 1/3 of all women born after 1960 will develop cancer in their lifetimes? This seems like a lot, but most cases will occur in people 65 or older. Countless celebrities such as David Bowie, Ben Stiller, Hugh Jackman, Sharon Osbourne, and Olivia Newton-John have all fought cancer. And there's a good chance that we all know someone who has cancer right now. There are over 200 types of cancer that can occur in humans, the most common places that cancer can occur include the breast, skin, lung, and colon. The disease cancer got its name from Greek physician Hippocrates, who used the terms carcinos and carcinoma to describe non-ulcer and ulcer-forming tumors. In Greek, this means crab because of the finger-like
spreading projections from cancer. Galen, a Roman physician used the term oncos meaning tumors to describe them. Oncos is the root word for oncology or study of cancer. Every day, 200-1000 cancerous cells are produced due to cells growing out of control.
The immune system will destroy the cancer cells, it's only when the cells grow to numbers of a million or billion that cancer can be detected and a tumor will be formed. This seems shocking, but usually, the human immune system can detect cancerous cells and destroy them causing no major problems. But sometimes, cells will undergo excessive growth and form a tumor. A tumor is basically a mass of cells. A tumor isn't always cancerous, a tumor that isn't cancerous is called a benign tumor, the cells won't invade nearby tissues and spread to other parts of the body. Benign tumors will be monitored carefully to see if it will turn into cancer. The opposite of a benign tumor is called a malignant tumor, also known as cancer which has the ability to invade tissue and spread to other parts of the body. Doctors test to see whether a tumor is benign or malignant by taking a biopsy, a sample of the tumor that is seen under the microscope for signs of cancer cells. Cancer kills by disrupting the homeostasis of the body. For example, if you have liver cancer, then the tumor can cause jaundice, a buildup of bilirubin, an enzyme that dissolves
fats. If cancer develops in the lungs, it can cause loss of respiratory function. Cancer can be divided into 4 stages. The first and second stage mean that the cancer hasn't spread outside of the site that it originated from. The third stage means that the cancer has spread to lymph nodes around the original site, and the fourth stage means the cancer has metastasized or spread to another part of the body, such as the brain or bones. There are many different treatments for cancer such as radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery. Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells and it originated from soldiers exposed to mustard pass during WWII. It was found that the gas could work against lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph nodes. Chemotherapy works by damaging cancer cells as they undergo mitosis, or cell division and to prevent them from growing. Radiation was used for cancer starting in the early 20th century. It uses x-rays, gamma rays, or electron beams to destroy cancer cells by making breaks in the DNA of cells keeping the cells from growing and dividing. Surgery will directly remove the tumor and surrounding tissues. A new type of cancer treatment called immunotherapy has been developed in the past two decades. The immune system keeps track of the substances in the body and when something is recognized as foreign, it will attack it. With cancer cells, the immune system usually doesn't recognize the cells as foreign. One type of immunotherapy works by designing antibodies, or a protein that sticks to another protein to target the protein on the cancer cells and destroy it. Another way is drugs that will program immune cells in the body to attack the cancer cells. Finally, there are cancer vaccines that will tell the immune system to start an immune response against certain diseases, including cancer. When there are no more signs of cancer cells in the body, the cancer is said to be in remission, meaning that signs or symptoms of cancer disappear. The good news is that cancer can be prevented through lifestyle changes, such as not smoking, eating less, and exercising daily. In fact, 40% of cancers are caused by lifestyle behaviors, most lung cancers are smoking related, skin cancers can be prevented by not tanning, and having excess fat tissue produces proteins that cause inflammation, which promotes cell growth and increases risk of developing cancer. The most important way to detect cancer early through routine screening such as a mammogram for breast cancer, a pap smear for cervical cancer, and a colonoscopy. These tests can catch cancer early, when it's the most curable.