What Is Cancer?
Cancer is actually a group of
many related diseases that all have to do with cells. Cells are the very small
units that make up all living things, including the human body. There are
billions of cells in each person's body.
Cancer happens when cells that are not normal grow and spread very fast. Normal body cells grow and divide and know to stop growing. Over time, they also die. Unlike these normal cells, cancer cells just continue to grow and divide out of control and don't die. Cancer cells usually group or clump together to form tumors (say: too-mers).
A growing tumor becomes a lump of cancer cells that can destroy the normal cells around the tumor and damage the body's healthy tissues. This can make someone very sick.
Sometimes cancer cells break away from the original tumor and travel to other areas of the body, where they keep growing and can go on to form new tumors. This is how cancer spreads. The spread of a tumor to a new place in the body is called metastasis (say: meh-tas-tuh-sis).
People with cancer may feel pretty sick at times - but can usually still do lots of normal things. Unless they are very sick, kids and teens with cancer may still be able to go to school. They may be tired or bruise easily, but they can sometimes go to camp, movies, and sleepover parties. People with cancer still like the same things they did before they got sick.
Cancer in kids is rare - but today, many kids who do get cancer go on live normal lives. The number of kids who beat cancer goes up every year because of new cancer treatments. So a lot of kids with cancer will some day drive cars, go to college, have careers, and even get married and have families of their own.
Causes of Cancer
Cancer is a rare illness in
children. Most kids will not know another kid who has cancer. If you had a
large football stadium packed with kids, probably only one child in that
stadium would have cancer.
Doctors aren't sure why some people get cancer and others don't. They do know that cancer is not contagious. You can't catch cancer from someone else who has it. Cancer isn't caused by germs, like colds or the flu are. So don't be afraid of other kids - or anyone else - with cancer. You can talk to, play with, and even hug someone with cancer.
Kids can't get cancer from anything they do either. Some kids think that a bump on the head causes brain cancer or that bad people get cancer. This isn't true! Kids don't do anything wrong to get cancer. But some unhealthy habits, especially cigarette smoking or drinking too much alcohol every day, can make you a lot more likely to get cancer when you become an adult.
Source of above article : http://kidshealth.org
Cancer has passed heart disease as top killer of Americans over the age of 85, according to the American Cancer Society?¡¥s newly released ?¡ãCancer Facts and Figures 2005?¡À report.
Here is a summary of the report's facts and figures pertaining to prostate cancer:
Source of above article :
 |
From Sergio
Barreto http://prostatecancer.about.com/ |
More information : Insurance for Couples Insurance for Disability