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What is Cancer?
The word cancer is associated with so many connotations that it often becomes impossible for the average person to think about it from a purely objective standpoint. Receiving a cancer diagnosis, the listener often mistakenly hears a death sentence, and visualizes the rigors of chemotherapy, and imagines the end of his or her life. As these similar thoughts have ingrained themselves in most societies, it becomes challenging to clearly define what cancer is. Cancer claims the life of one out of every four people in the United States, second only to heart disease, but exceeds its statistics in some age categories. Over 1500 people die of cancer every single day.
“Cancer” cannot be understood as one single disease. It is in fact a complex illness that has hundreds of variations. Cancer, also known as a malignancy is characterized as a locally invasive and uncontrollable cell growth pattern caused by problems and damages that have occurred in the genes of the cells. The type of cancer is generally designated based on the organ or tissue system it originates in. Cancer results from the unregulated growth of these abnormal cells. As these cells continue to divide and multiply, they form cancerous tumors.
Over the past decade, the amount of effort and resources dedicated to cancer research has steadily increased. With the new research, we have made incredible leaps in understanding this often lethal disease. The public is now aware of cancer as a serious threat which can afflict anyone, from those most at risk like chronic smokers to the most innocent victims, like children born with cancer. We hope that this research will soon bring about a cure for cancer. In the absence of a cure, we can only hope for more effective treatments for cancer. Unfortunately, medical advances are not outpacing the malady and millions of people are suffering and dying from cancer every year.
Since there is no definitive cure for all types of cancer, we must work to fight the disease in the best ways that we currently know. Cancer awareness and a deep knowledge of its symptoms is a must for all societies. When cancer is detected early, patients have a better prognosis and chances of becoming a “survivor”. That is why it is so important for the general public to be educated about the symptoms of cancer, risk factors for cancer, and cancer screening tests.
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