What is cancer?

Every living creature is built up of cells. We humans have roughly 34 trillion of them. Like tiny machines they build up our body and work together constantly. Of course some of them live shorter, some of them live longer (just think about skin [a month] or brain cells [years]). Those that die are replaced by new cells that are created through division of other, similar cells. This division is very well controlled, we do not have more skin than we need J But what happens if something goes wrong with this control? Well, then a cell start to multiply and multiply and multiply… and this bunch of unneeded cells are called cancer!

You might also hear about “tumors”. We use the term tumor for any abnormal growth or mass in your body, not only cancer. So if your doctor say he noticed a tumor, it is most likely only just a fluid filled cyst or lump of fat that is not growing.

And why are cancer dangerous? Because it grows, and invade its neighborhood, it grows into surrounding, normally functioning organs, it chokes normal cells, it may produce toxic agents. And also because it multiplies and grows constantly it needs more food, starving other cells. Further, a single cell can dislodge and get anywhere in your body and create a new cancer location there (we call this metastasis).

Why cells go out of control? Internal or external reasons cause cells to malfunction. Radiation, chemicals, hormones and inherited factors might be the cause. In most cases we never know what went wrong. Think about how many times your laptop brakes down without any particular big reason.

And to the most important question: Cancer diagnosis means a death sentence?

NO, absolutely not! Early diagnosed cancers mostly can be treated easily and without permanent damage. If we catch cancers before metastasis often cutting them out solves the problem. For example Stage 1 (early localized) breast cancer has a 100% survival rate. Of course the later we discover the bigger the problem and a more complicated treatment might be needed, but still not as bad as 20 years ago: for example Stage 3A colon cancer survival rate is still 89% nowadays.

So what can you do? Live a healthy life, have yourself regularly checked and do not hesitate to visit your doctor with the smallest symptoms as it might mean early diagnosis = life .

Please follow up on our upcoming articles about treatment and diagnosis to learn more.