Cancer My friend, Matt, was diagnosed with cancer in May 2002. I was shocked when Matt's girlfriend, Amber, told me that he had cancer, because Matt was only twenty-three years old when diagnosed. The type of cancer Matt has is called Leukemia, which is cancer of the white blood cells. This cancer starts in the bone marrow but can then spread to the blood, lymph nodes, the spleen, liver, central nervous system and other organs. Cancer affects many people each year including my grandmother who had cancer and now one of my close friends.
The type of Leukemia Matt has is Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), which causes his body many problems. Matt's first symptoms of Leukemia started with him filling weak and fatigued, looking pale faced, and vomiting on occasion. Matt's mother is a nurse at the Aiken Hospital, ambling her to know that something was seriously wrong with Matt.
A scanning electron microscope image of normal cir...
A bone marrow harvest.
English: Derivation of white blood cells from stem...Matt's mom took him to the Aiken Hospital where he was later diagnosed with Leukemia. Matt's family and friends were shocked to find out he had this disease because of his young age. This is a disease that occurs most commonly in young children, but also affects adults. The doctors have no idea how Matt became infected with cancer. Some risk factors for some cases of cancer are smoking, exposure to massive amounts of radiation, and drugs used for the treatment of other cancers. Leukemia cells in the Acute Leukemia grow rapidly and require therapy right away (Veritas Medicine). This type of disease is hard on the body because it affects the blood cells. Bone Marrow is the soft, spongy, inner part of bones (American Cancer Society). All of the different types of blood cells are made in the bone marrow. Bone marrow is made up of blood-forming...