Cancer: Understanding the Disease, Fighting the Fear, and Embracing Hope
What is Cancer? Cancer is not just one disease but a collection of related diseases that share a common hallmark: abnormal cells growing and dividing uncontrollably. These rogue cells can invade nearby tissues and spread to distant parts of the body through the blood and lymph systems—a process known as metastasis . Normally, the human body is programmed to regulate cell growth and death through a process called apoptosis . Cancer develops when this process goes awry, and damaged or mutated cells refuse to die and continue multiplying. The Biology of Cancer: How It Starts Cancer begins at the cellular level , often triggered by genetic mutations. These can be: Inherited from parents (genetic predisposition) Acquired during a person’s life due to environmental exposures or lifestyle choices Once a mutation occurs, it may cause a cell to: Ignore signals that regulate growth Avoid apoptosis Create new blood vessels (angiogenesis) to feed tumors Evade ...