The spleen is a component of your lymphatic system, which fights illness and maintains the balance of your bodily fluids. It has white blood cells, which fight pathogens. Your spleen also regulates the volume of blood in your body and eliminates old and damaged cells. It makes sense that removing or damaging your spleen would be dangerous for your health. When you have a splenectomy, you surgically remove your spleen. This can happen when you need to remove the spleen because of trauma or to prevent the spread of cancer. After this operation, your body does not have any way to fight off infection, so you must take antibiotics before and after the surgery to prevent infections from developing. Damage to your spleen can also occur with injuries to the area where the organ resides in your chest. A splenic injury needs to be treated by a specialist - often an orthopedic surgeon - because there are many ways such as cuts, bruises, and fractures that could result in damage to your spleen. The injured person's symptoms may include pain in the upper left side of the stomach area, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, shortness of breath, confusion, or blurred vision. If you have a splenectomy or suffer from splenic damage, your body cannot produce white blood cells, which means that you will need to supplement this aspect of your immune system.