• Question: what is cancer and why do some people die from it?

    Asked by miniscientist to Sarah on 13 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by hamil13.
    • Photo: Sarah Thomas

      Sarah Thomas answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Cancer is when a persons DNA gets damaged, and then the cells grow out of control and form a lump called a tumour. Sometimes tumours can be harmless, it really depends where in the body it ends up. If it is in the person’s brain, as the tumour grows, it puts more and more pressure on the person’s brain because there is only a limited amount of space within their skull, and so brain tumours can make patients ill very very quickly.

      Often if it grows on or near a major organ, it can stop the organ working properly and this can make the patient seriously ill too.

      Some people die from cancer because it is diagnosed too late and by the time they start to get chemotherapy, they are too weak and they cannot recover from it. That happened to somebody I love.

      The other problem with cancer is that as it gets really big and take over the persons body, it feeds from all their nutrition and takes energy away from the rest of the body. The patient ends up getting malnourishment even if they are eating well, and they lose weight and get really weak and tired.

      It’s a horrible disease and breaks up families and i’m glad i’m doing something to help.

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