No one wishes to be told they have cancer of any kind. It’s something that causes quite a bit of dread. Cancer is as serious as things get. For most people who are diagnosed, they are in for the biggest fight of their lives. However, there’s a silver lining. The list of heroic stories of people fighting against cancer and winning are something that can work to inspire our society.
While all kinds of cancers seem to be spreading, leukemia itself is very common. Throughout the United States every year, there are more than 50,000 people diagnosed every year. Leukemia affects a person’s immune system and causes white blood cells to act outside their normal jobs.
What is Leukemia?
Despite the number of people who suffer from Leukemia, there are a lot of people who are unsure about the details about it. Many people still don’t even know that Leukemia is a form of cancer and a very problematic form of cancer at that.
Cancer isn’t just something that occurs on its own. Cancer needs to alter the cells of something. Leukemia alters the production of blood cells and blood cells are produced from the bone marrow. When someone has Leukemia, the production of blood cells is produced abnormally. They survive for far too long. Instead of dying off normally when they don’t function, they stick around and do things incorrectly. This could mean attacking the body itself or not responding to diseases and viruses that do infect the body.
Childhood Leukemia
One of the reasons that leukemia is so frustrating is that it is one of the most common cancers that affects children. Of all the children that contract some form of cancer, approximately 1 in 3 are cases of leukemia. Thankfully, childhood leukemia can be identified fairly early.
There are different types of leukemia that children can have. The first type is Acute leukemia. This one is very fast growing cancer. The other type is called acute myelogenous leukemia. This type is focused directly in the bone marrow. The final type is chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). CML takes longer to grow. Thankfully, CML is not common in children and is one of the hardest types to treat.
What are the Symptoms of Leukemia?
Since treating leukemia early is the key to success in defeating it, knowing the symptoms and being able to get a doctor to diagnose it early are crucial. There are many different symptoms that may occur depending on which type of leukemia has developed. Here are some of the symptoms that people should be looking for:
- Loss of Temperature Control - Leukemia sufferers will often have horrible fever or chills unpredictably.
- Loss of Energy - A severe fatigue will fall upon sufferers of Leukemia
- Infections - People who have leukemia have had their immune system compromised. Unsurprisingly this means they have more infections and they are more severe.
- Weight Loss - Many people are trying to lose weight, but this is unexpected weight loss without trying to do so.
- Bleeding - People with leukemia will bleed very easily. Minor things became major. This also applies to bruises.
There are also some other symptoms as well. The key is visiting a doctor as soon as these symptoms start to occur so that they can discover the truth of things. It’s better to check and be wrong than to not check and have it become a much worse form.