Cancer! Just the word strikes terror into the hearts of humankind all over the world!
Cancer is a disease characterized by the abnormal and uncontrolled growth of cells.
The fast-paced spread of these abnormal cells threaten the very existence of the person inflicted with it.
The external manifestation of cancer is caused by combinations of many different things.
Chemicals, radiation, and viruses are believed to be some causes.
Internal factors are hormones, immune system conditions, and inherited problems.
Sometimes, it takes many years and a combination of several of these causes to produce the disease that we know as cancer.
Treatment for cancer varies depending on what type of cancer that is being dealt with.
Radiation, surgery, chemicals, hormones, and immunotherapy are used alone or in combination in the treatment of cancer.
The cure rate for cancer depends upon what type of tumor it is, where it is located, whether or not it has spread to other parts of the body, etc.
It was predicted that there would be around 1,208,000 new cancer cases reported in 1994 and around 538,000 would die.
This equals over 1,400 people a day. This adds up to one out of every five deaths in the United States in 1994 being cancer related!
Worth taking note of is the fact that the five-year survival rate for all cancers is only 53%.
