Jane: “Sometimes I think: why does it have to be my mother?” Nobody can answer this question. Getting cancer is just bad luck, sheer bad luck.
Some people die from cancer, but there are also people who get better. Don´t forget that there are a lot of different sorts of cancer and that often something can be done about it. Would you like to know how cancer is treated? Have a look at operations, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy.
Cancer comes from the Latin word “cancer” that means crab or lobster. A tumour or cancerous tumour is usually not round, but looks like a little ball with little bits sticking out. When they discovered cancer and saw a little ball like that with bits sticking out, it reminded them of a crab or a lobster.
There are more than a 100 different sorts of cancer. Every sort has its own name. There is breast cancer, bowel cancer, lung cancer, skin cancer, a brain tumor, blood cancer (leukaemia), and so on.
Cancer has existed for a long time. Two and a half thousand years ago they already tried to find out about the disease and in Egypt when they did excavations, they found mummies of people who had died of cancer. Cancer is really a very old illness.
Cancer can run in the family and we know now that a few sorts can be hereditary. It can happen, but it doesn’t have to. And what´s more, if the cancer is hereditary, it still does not mean that you will get it later too. You can decide yourself whether you’d like to be tested for it– when you are older.
Yes, but children don´t get cancer as often as, for instance, grandfathers, grandmothers, fathers and mothers. If you stand 1000 people who have cancer in a line, then 994 of them are grown-ups and only 6 are children.
Yes, animals can also get cancer. Just like the human body, an animal´s body is made up of cells. These cells can also get ill and divide really fast.
A tumour is another word for cancer. It is a clump of sick cells. Some people talk about a lump or a swelling. Beware: not every lump or swelling is cancer. Some lumps or swellings are harmless. When we talk about cancer, we mean a malignant (that is, ill) cells.
Sick cells can wander throughout the body. On the spot where the cancer cells end up, a new tumour can grow. That is what we call metastasis or when the cancer spreads.
Of course, you don’t have to be super well behaved, but maybe you can help out every now and then or clear your room up yourself. And doing a drawing or writing a poem for your mum or dad helps too!
