• Question: what is cancer like, does it hurt ?? how does it spread through your body ?? what are the different types of cancers ?? :/

    Asked by abbiekeen to Laura, Lily, Mark, Paul, Sarah on 22 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by iloveyouuflake99.
    • Photo: Lily Asquith

      Lily Asquith answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      There are lots of different cancers. Some of them are very easy to treat and some of them are harder. These days people have no reason to be in pain, because there are lots of medicines available to make the pain go away.

    • Photo: Mark Roberts

      Mark Roberts answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      Cancer is a disease when cells divide uncontrollably – that would be fine if we were just one cell but because out body is complex and made up of lots of cells together if some keep dividing then there simply isn’t space so it causes disease – namely cancer. Does it hurt – it depends where the cancer is – it can do, but if it was on your skin it might just be a growth and not hurt at all

      So cancer is a generic name meaning a disease that causes cells to divide uncontrollably – which because our body is highly organised causes problems! Before we understood how it all worked we called these diseases cancer but now we know it’s really more than one disease

      In fact cancer is very personal as for cells to divide uncontrollably 7 systems in the cell need to break / not work normally. In each of these systems there are different ways they can break – this means that each person’s cancer is potentially different to the next (in terms of what is broken!) [though there are things that are more likely to break that others]

      So this means there will never be ‘a cure for cancer’ there may well be many cures and what works for each patient will be very dependant on what is broken – so cancer will end up being an individual cure.

      As for how it spreads one of the things that happens late in cancer is some of the cells from the tumour of cells that are growing out of control manage to break free into the blood stream – there they can attach to new tissues forming a new tumour

      Hope that answers your qu.

    • Photo: Laura Maliszewski

      Laura Maliszewski answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Cancer describes a lot of different diseases, all caused by uncontrolled cell growth. All the cells in your body divide according to a particular program that maintains all your organs and allows you to grow.

      When a cell starts dividing uncontrollably, it makes a growth called a tumor. Some tumors are uncomfortable but otherwise harmless. Others damage organs nearby or emit toxins that damage other parts of the body. These causes the diseases that we call ‘cancer’.

      Tumors aren’t just balls of cells, they have their own blood supply and co-opt other bodily functions away from your organs.

      Some cancers can spread through the body by a process called ‘metastasization’ which is a little different for each type of cancer.

      Common cancers include lymphoma, breast cancer and prostate cancer.

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