Cancers
Cancer is a disease that is caused by misbehaving cells inside the body.
Cells are the building blocks of our bodies. There are many, many kinds of cells, each with a different job.
Lots of the same kind of cells make up the organs in the body; like brain cells and heart cells and kidney cells.
Sometimes, one of cells inside the body quits its job and starts to make copies of itself instead.
All of those copies start to take over and make a big blob which is called a tumor.
These tumor cells can get greedy and take the energy away from healthy cells.
People of all ages can get cancer, but cancer in kids is not the same as cancer in adults.
The cancer doctors, called oncologists, have many different ways of making you better. You may need very powerful drugs, called chemotherapy. Or you may need to have a surgery to remove the cancer cells. Sometimes, they use special x-rays called radiation therapy.
With the right treatment, many kids with cancer get much better. When the cancer has been fought and we can't see any more cancer in the body, we say that it is "in remission."
Medical discoveries and new technology are helping even more kids beat cancer and stay healthy.
Going to the doctor for well-kid checkups and when you are feeling sick, can help to spot the signs of cancer early. There are many problems that cancer can cause, so you might need some tests.
Tests for cancer can be blood tests, or taking pictures inside your body with x-rays, magnets (MRI), or sound (ultrasound). A test called a biopsy is when some cells are taken and put under a microscope. A specialized doctor called a pathologist finds out exactly what has gone wrong in the cells.