Essay on Cancer: A deadly disease caused due to uncontrolled and abnormal growth of cells in the body is called cancer. It cripples the patient both physically and mentally. There are more than 200 cancer types. Symptoms are highly varying and may present conditions of fatigue, weight loss, lumps or cluster formation, irregular bleeding patterns etc. Cancer care is provided through surgeries, radiation therapies and chemotherapy.
500+ Words Essay on Cancer
Cancer is a group of those cells that lose the ability to follow the normal control applied to all cells and start showing anti-social behaviour. Our body is made up of various cells. Cancer occurs when some of these cells show abnormal behavior and become uncontrollable. Their behaviour becomes like that of rumours, i.e., it spreads quickly! Along the way, it increases their number by infecting other cells too! All of these cancerous cells form a group, and that is called a “Tumour.” What is more dangerous about the disease is that it keeps growing unstoppably and can even spread to other organs, while in some cases, it even destroys the organs completely!
Types of Cancer
- Carcinoma: This kind of cancer is the most common cancer that is generally found. Cancer in organs like lungs, breasts, stomach, etc. are common examples of the Carcinoma type of Cancer.
- Sarcoma: This type of cancer is very rare. We still don’t know a specific cause of this cancer; but generally, Sarcoma cancer originates in cartilages, connective tissues, blood vessels, bones, etc.
- Leukaemia: Leukaemia or blood cancer, is caused in the blood due to an increase in White Blood Cells (WBCs) in our body. No tumours are formed in this type of cancer.
- Lymphoma: Lymphoma originates from the lymphocytes (infection-fighting cells in the immune system).This kind of cancer is treatable depending on its type and stage. Due to lymphoma, lymphocytes change and grow out of control.
- Melanoma: Melanoma is a type of skin cancer. It develops when melanocytes (cells which are responsible for the colour of the skin) grows out of control. This type of cancer is not common, but it spreads very quickly.
Causes of Cancer
- Genetic Factor: Genetic factor includes things like heredity, genes, blood type, gender, age, etc. If you have a family background of any kind of cancer, then, there are chances of you getting cancer. Generally, this cause cannot be changed or manipulated.
- External/Lifestyle Factor: These factors are caused by external factors. Smoking, chewing tobacco, unhealthy lifestyle, excessive exposure to UV rays, exposure to any harmful radiations like X-rays or Gamma rays, etc. are the main or most common causes of cancer. Generally, these causes can be avoided, and by living a healthy lifestyle, the risk of getting any cancer can be reduced.
Treatment of Cancer
- Surgery: It depends on many things like the type of cancer, your general health, the location of cancer in your body, the size and stage of cancer, etc. And eventually, that part decides whether to perform a surgery or not. Through surgery, the tissue which has the tumour is removed, so that cancer doesn’t spread further. This treatment is not useful if the cancer is already spread in many parts of your body.
- Radiation Therapy: Radiation therapy, also called Radiotherapy, is used commonly when cancer has spread in the body. In this therapy, high energy particles or waves are used to destroy the cancer cells, and stop their spreading. Due to radiation, other normal cells also get damaged, but they get recovered with time.
- Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy is a treatment that uses drugs to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy stops or slow down the growth of cancer cells, and reduces the chances of returning of those cells. It also helps in increasing the effectiveness of other therapies like radiotherapy, surgery, etc. There are many side-effects of this therapy like loss of hair, fatigue, etc. and this therapy damages the healthy cells too, but all these side-effects recover with time.
Despite such terrifying aspects of Cancer disease, the battle is still not over for many Cancer patients around the world. There are many examples of inspiring stories of people’s fight against this disease.