Cancer is a frightening word that brings many fears to our minds. It is a disease that affects almost every individual in some way. It is found in our closest friends as well as our family members. Even though cancer is such a serious disease not many know the details of how it works. The hope for the future is that an increase in knowledge will give us better treatments for those we love.
Cancer is a disease of cells.
As a human we have about 50 trillion cells throughout our body that help us to function. When normal cells become cancerous they start to grow very rapidly and do not exhibit any safety mechanisms. These mechanisms are intrinsically portrayed by the cell as a way for the cells to stop dividing when it should. Cancer cells do not stop dividing and eventually migrate to different parts of the body and develop into tumors. A tumor is a cell that grows abnormally.