Download Research Project-Shelby Hutton

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University of Cincinnati
Cancer
Research Project
Shelby Hutton
English 1001-112
Dr. Murdock
26 October 2012
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Cancer
Cancer is described as the abnormal growth of cells in the body. During
cellular growth, a single cell multiplies and old cells die off. Cells can multiply and
divide quickly and when the process in interrupted, cancer cells begin to form. If the
body doesn’t fix the interruption quickly the cancer cells can multiply and divide
just like normal healthy cells would. When the cancer cells multiply and divide the
form what is called a tumor, which in some cases is considered cancerous.
Cancer is the leading causes of death in the United States today. Cancer
doesn’t just happen from external factors but as well as internal factors. While we all
know that tobacco is a former cause of cancer there are many internal factors such
as hormones, immune conditions and more. In 2014 alone, according to the Cancer
Facts & Figures 2014, it is said that about 1,665,540 new cancer cases are expected
to be diagnosed in 2014. Out of those new cases it is estimated that about 585,720
Americans are expected to die of cancer, which is almost 1,600 people per day
(American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2014. Atlanta: American Cancer
Society: 2014).
Many people associate cancer with death, however, that is not always the
case. Survival rates vary depending on the type of cancer an individual has or the
stage of cancer they are battling at the time. The 5-year relative survival rate for all
cancers diagnosed between 2003 and 2009 is 68%, up from 49% in 1975-1977
(American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2014. Atlanta: American Cancer
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Society: 2014). There are many ways to treat cancer. Different cancer treatments
include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy and targeted therapy. Radiation
therapy uses energy waves to destroy cancer cells. It is the most common treatment
and one that is used on many different types of cancer. Chemotherapy is when
medicine is involved to help get rid of cancer cells. Target therapy is very similar to
chemotherapy in a way that they both use medicine but the target therapy tends to
focus on one specific area of cancer to try and kill or fight off those cancer cells.
Cancer has different stages, these stages depend on the size or extent of the
primary tumor and whether it has spread to nearby lymph nodes or other areas of
the body (American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2014. Atlanta: American
Cancer Society: 2014). These stages are assessed in three ways. All factors that play
into determining stage include the extent of the primary tumor, lymph node
involvement and whether or not the tumor has distant metastases. Once those are
determined the categorize stages 1-5. The first stage is being a very small portion
being cancerous and stage 5 being the foremost stage of development. Cancer is
widely known and scary thing for everyone around the world. Although there has
been no cure for cancer at this day and age, doctors are coming up with new
methods and using clinical trials to help find a cure for cancer. So many people have
cancer that doctors are trying to come up with different treatment methods as well.
Lung cancer one of the most common types of cancers in the U.S. Lung cancer
starts with mutation in the cells in the lungs. In 2011 207,339 people in the United
States were diagnosed with lung cancer. Women diagnosed with lung cancer in
2011 was 110,322 and 97,017 men were diagnosed. In that same year, the number
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of people who died from lung cancer included 86,736 men and 70,217 women
putting that at a total of 156,953 people who passes from lung cancer. (U.S. Cancer
Statistics Working Group. United States Cancer Statistics: 1999–2011 Incidence and
Mortality Web-based Report. Atlanta (GA): Department of Health and Human Services,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Cancer Institute; 20140.
For the year 2014 it is estimated that about 224,210 new cases of lung cancer are
expected. That is almost doubled from 2011. An estimated 159,260 deaths will occur
from lung cancer in 2014. (American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2014.
Atlanta: American Cancer Society: 2014). Smoking tobacco is a big contributing
factor and mostly seen in cases of lung cancer. Lung cancer is mostly seen in elderly
people, in 2010 82% of people with lung cancer were ages 60 and older. Lung
cancer accounts for 1.37 million deaths annually (Lung Cancer Fact Sheet - American
Lung Association. (2014, January 1). Retrieved October 26, 2014.
Lung cancer has affected my family and I, both of my grandparents passed away
from lung cancer. On November 8, 2007, I lost my grandpa to lung cancer. My grandpa
was a heavy smoker, causing the lung cancer in the first place. It was very hard for me to
accept that he passed because I was so close with him. I couldn’t even imagine how my
dad felt loosing his father. I remember it like it was yesterday, I just got home from
school and I was doing homework in my room, nothing out of the ordinary but I
remember both of my parents going over to my grandparent’s house.
My grandparents lived across the street from our house so I just figure they were
going over to visit and check up on my grandpa to see if he needed anything. They went
over almost everyday to keep him company during his fight so I never though it was
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weird that they randomly went over there. I never imagined what would happen next
though. When they came back to the house they told my brother and I that we needed to
go into the living room to talk about something. I didn’t think of anything at the time
because I was at the age where I didn’t quite understand everything fully. When we went
to the room to sit down, I looked at my parents and I could tell something was wrong.
I assumed that it had something to do with my grandpa but I kept telling myself
“he is doing great and getting better with all the treatments.” They told my brother and I
that grandpa had passed away. I dropped to the floor and started bawling. I couldn’t
believe that my grandpa had passed away. It all seemed like a dream and I didn’t want to
believe anything that they just told me. I remember wanting to run over across the street
because none of this seemed real, it just felt like a big nightmare. I sat in the living room
crying for an hour. I couldn’t believe that my grandpa just passed away. After sobbing for
a while my mother came back into the living room and said “Honey you need to come
eat.” I didn’t have an appetite and was not in the mood to eat anything.
After my mom was yelling at me for a solid twenty minuets, I went to go eat
dinner with my family. After we ate, I went to my room and cried some more because I
kept thinking about all the good times I had with him and I was sad that I wasn’t going to
get to experience that with him anymore. I had to keep telling myself that this was God
calling grandpa to come home and I would see him again one day. They next day I didn’t
want to school because I didn’t want to start crying at school then everybody asking me
why I was crying. I thought to myself, if I went to school and everybody kept asking
what was wrong I would have to explain what happened, and then I would be sad and
keep thinking about him all day. After fighting with my mom about not wanting to go to
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school, I knew if I stayed home I would just be sad the whole day too, I knew grandpa
wouldn’t want me to be sad so I decided to go to school to try and get my mind off what
just happened. I told myself that if anyone asked what happened that I would tell him or
her but I wasn’t allowed to be sad anymore. My grandpa wouldn’t want me to be sad
because he was in a better place now and he isn’t in pain anymore. He is happy in heaven
and watching over my family and I.
After the news of my dad’s dad passing away, in May of the following year my
grandma passed away from lung cancer also. She was also a smoker, just like my
grandpa. Lung cancer is such a big thing these days. I never thought my grandparents
would be part of the people who had cancer, let alone pass away from the cancer. It is
such hard things to go through when dealing with a death of family member but I cant
imagine what they went through with all the chemo and radiation. It had to be hard for
them and I know now that they are in a better place.
So many people are affected by lunch cancer, and not only does it affect the
person living with the cancer but everyone around them. The death of my grandma hit
hard on everyone because it was only 7 months after my grandpa had passed. She passed
May 21, 2008. The year we lost both of them was by far the hardest year. We knew that if
the chemotherapy didn’t work very well then we would have a shorter amount of time
with the both of them but they were doing so good and it just turned for the worst so
quick. We thought we would get more time with them and when it turned for the worse
we thought they would have enough fight to come back from it.
Many people are affected by lung cancer today. A lot of people develop lung
cancer from mainly smoking tobacco. Unfortunately, that is what happened with my
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grandparents and we lost them to cancer. Smoking is a choice that someone can make and
everybody knows that you could develop lung cancer. While smoking is a big factor in
lung cancer there are many other things that can cause lung cancer, even if you don’t
smoke. Lung cancer is such a big thing and its sad to say that out of the 89,510 estimated
deaths of men with lung cancer, my grandpa was part of that number. Also out of the
70,880 estimated deaths of females with lung cancer, my grandma was part of that
number. (Jemal, A., Seigil, R., Ward, E., Murry, T., Xu, J., & Thun, M. (2001, January
1). Cancer Statistics, 2007. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
There are many different organizations for all types of cancer. The Lung Cancer
Association is an organization to help fund and raise money for the lung cancer research
in hopes that we will one day find a cure for lung cancer. They have been funding and
raising money for over 95 years. The American Lung Association is comprised of 3
distinct programs: The Awards and Grants Program, the Asthma Clinical Research
Centers Network and Epidemiology and Statistics Program. This association aggressively
advocates increasing America’s investment into life saving research (ALA).
Another cancer organization that help fund and raise money for cancer research
is the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This organization focuses specifically on
leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. It is dedicated to funding research for blood disease
research and provides patient care and education (LLS). Leukemia and Lymphomia
Society, to date, has invested more than 1 billion in research to advance therapies and
save lives.
Leukemia is a type of cancer in the blood originating from the bone marrow. In
2014 it is estimated that 52,380 new cases are expected (American Cancer Society.
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Cancer Facts & Figures 2014. Atlanta: American Cancer Society: 2014). There are 4
main groups of leukemia. Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), chronic lymphocytic
leukemia (CLL), acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).
Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) is cancer in the blood and bone marrow. “Acute”
means that the disease progresses rapidly and creates immature blood cells rather than
mature ones. “Lymphocytic” refers to the white blood cells called lymphocytes which
ALL affects (Hoffman R, et al. Hematology: Basic Principles and Practice. 5th ed.
Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier; 2009.
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is cancer of the white blood cells. Acute
myeloid leukemia is the rapid growth of cancerous myeloid cells. These cells grow more
rapid than CML. Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is cancer of the blood cells in the
bone marrow but involve myeloid cells. It is estimated that 6, 020 people will be
diagnosed with ALL. 15,720 people will be diagnosed with CLL. 18,860 people will be
diagnosed with AML and 5,960 people will be diagnosed with CML in 2014. (Disease
Information & Support. (2014, January 1). Retrieved October 26, 2014.
In 2014 it is said that 24, 090 individuals in the United States will die of leukemia.
For ALL 1,440 individuals are expected to pass away, for CLL 4,600. AML it is expected
that 10,460 people will pass away and for CML 810 people will pass away from this
cancer (Disease Information & Support. (2014, January 1). Retrieved October 26, 2014.
Although leukemia isn’t as common as lung cancer, leukemia is found more in
children and young adults while lung cancer is more found in elderly people and smoking
is targeted. A family member of mine was affected by leukemia. My grandma Sandy had
leukemia. She had acute lymphocytic leukemia. Like I said before, ALL is a cancer of the
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bone marrow. To go more in depth about ALL, which also may be called Acute
Lymphoblastic Leukemia, the bone marrow makes large numbers of abnormal immature
lymphocytes. The abnormal lymphocytes continue to multiply and divide like all other
cells, however they do not mature into proper lymphocytes. ALL usually develops
quickly and rapidly becomes worse unless treated (Kenny, D. (2013, July 6). Acute
Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Retrieved October 26, 2014. Symptoms of ALL include
anemia, blood clotting problems and serious infections (Kenny, D. (2013, July 6). Acute
Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
My grandma Sandy had all of these symptoms. We noticed that my grandma had
been loosing weight. Everybody thought that she was just loosing weight to become
healthier; we didn’t really think anything was wrong at that point. One day we on our
way home from a family camping trip and my mom got a call saying that her mom was
admitted into the hospital for severe abdominal pains. My mother rushed over to the
hospital where my grandma was, when we got home from camping. At that time, the
doctors didn’t really know what was going on. They were doing so many tests to try and
figure out what was going on. After running different tests they found out that her white
blood cell count was through the roof and her spleen was enlarged. The reason her spleen
was so enlarged was because the white blood cells kept storing in her spleen to the point
where it enlarged her spleen.
The doctors still weren’t quite sure what was going on so they kept my grandma
in the hospital for 4 weeks until the finally diagnosed her with Acute Lymphocytic
Leukemia. After they diagnosed her, she stayed in the hospital for another week to start
chemotherapy. My family and I didn’t know much about ALL but they doctors wanted to
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do testing on us to see if we were a match to give my grandma bone marrow because she
was loosing so much to the cancer. The doctors made it seem like there was a positive
outlook and she was going to get through this with the help of the testing for bone
marrow with us. We had such high hopes that she would win this battle.
On July 19, 2006 we found out she didn’t win the battle. I remember my mother
telling me that she had passed away and all I can remember is crying non-stop for hours.
My grandma passed in a horrific way. My grandma had a complication to the
chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is a type of treatment that kills cancer cells and also thins
out your blood. When my grandma got home from chemotherapy, she sat down to watch
her soaps on TV and she had gotten a nosebleed. She began to bleed very quickly
because of the chemotherapy thinning out her blood. She ran over to the door to unlock it
and open it. She then got on the phone with 911 and by the time the ambulance had
gotten there she had already passed.
My grandma bled out and passed away. It was very hard for my family to
understand why all this had to happen and we had so many questions. After the doctors
telling us there is a strong possibility of a positive outcome for my grandma to her
passing away the way that she did. It was so hard for everyone and we didn’t quite know
how to except it. I always asked myself would she still be here if the ambulance showed
up quicker? Why didn’t they get there quicker to help her? I cant even imagine how my
grandpa felt getting a call at work saying that his wife just passed away, then coming
home to see what a mess the house was from her bleeding out. It is such a horrific way to
go and it was all complications of the chemotherapy, which was supposed to help her get
better. Loosing a family member to cancer, or old age, or loosing them in a tragic way is
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not easy for anyone. You hear about people not being able to fight off cancer and loosing
the battle against cancer but they way my grandma passed was just horrible.
It goes to show you that cancer is such a big part of our world today and there
isn’t a cure for any of it. Yes, there are treatments for the cancer but a lot of the time it
doesn’t work for some people. A lot of people do survive cancer, and that is a wonderful
thing, unfortunately there are people who don’t survive it like both of my grandmas and
my grandpa. Since cancer is so big here, doctors are doing everything they can to find
cures for all types of cancers. They are doing everything from different treatment
methods to clinical trials.
References
"Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia | Patient.co.uk." Patient.co.uk. Dr. Tim Kenny,
6 July 2013. Web. 26 Oct. 2014. <http://www.patient.co.uk/health/acute-lymphoblasticleukaemia-leaflet>.
"Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia." Definition. 15 Sept. 2012. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/acute-lymphocyticleukemia/basics/definition/con-20042915>.
"Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia." Genetics Home Reference. 20 Oct. 2014. Web.
26 Oct. 2014. <http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/acute-promyelocytic-leukemia>.
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American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2014. Atlanta: American
Cancer Society; 2014.
<http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/content/@research/documents/webcontent/
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"Cancer Statistics 2007." Cancer Statistics, 2007. 1 Jan. 2007. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.
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<http://www.lls.org/ - /aboutlls/>
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"Lung Cancer Statistics." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers
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<http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/lung/statistics/>.
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