User blog:EcruosofCharisma/A PSA on cancer

Alright, 3K's done it, and I need to talk about this too, because it gets tossed around like it's nothing. It is something. Cancer's seriously not a joke, and since it's thrown around so non-chalantly. (I won't say which users, but those of you who use it know who you are.) I feel like i'm gonna speak up about it. It's not something you throw around at parties, or joke about with a friend, or at least it shouldn't be.

[Disclaimer!] None of the facts here are written by me. They've been copy-pasted off of Wikipedia, or various other sites.

Leukemia:
Leukemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts".
 * Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases. In turn, it is part of the even broader group of diseases affecting the blood, bone marrow, and lymphoid system, which are all known as hematological neoplasms.
 * Leukemia can affect people at any age. In 2000 approximately 256,000 children and adults around the world had developed some form of leukemia, and 209,000 have died from it. About 90% of all leukemias are diagnosed in adults.
 * Leukemia, like other cancers, results from mutations in the DNA. Certain mutations can trigger leukemia by activating oncogenes or deactivating tumor suppressor genes, and thereby disrupting the regulation of cell death, differentiation or division. These mutations may occur spontaneously or as a result of exposure to radiation or carcinogenic substances.
 * Although leukemia is a treatable disease. Most treatments involve chemotherapy, medical radiation therapy, hormone treatments, or bone marrow transplant. (Chemotherapy's a real bitch, I can tell you that it's really bad, my mom had to get chemotherapy last year, and it was really horrible. It seemed like such an excruciating pain, and it wasn't just physically, but emotionally as well.)
 * The chance of surviving Leukemia is only 60%

There are 4 stages of Leukemia, as there is for most cancers.


 * Stage I: cancers are localized to one part of the body. Stage I cancer can be surgically removed if small enough.


 * Stage II: cancers are locally advanced. Stage II cancer can be treated by chemo, radiation, or surgery.


 * Stage III: cancers are also locally advanced. Whether a cancer is designated as Stage II or Stage III can depend on the specific type of cancer; for example, in Hodgkin's Disease, Stage II indicates affected lymph nodes on only one side of the diaphragm, whereas Stage III indicates affected lymph nodes above and below the diaphragm. The specific criteria for Stages II and III therefore differ according to diagnosis. Stage III can be treated by chemo, radiation, or surgery.


 * Stage IV: The cancers have often metastasized, or spread to other organs or throughout the body. Stage IV cancer can be treated by chemo, radiation, or surgery. However, as mentioned once, now a couple times in this blog, chemotherapy itself is tiring, for both the body, mind, and soul. It's literally tiring enough to make you depressed.

There are many of us here on Wikia that have been affected by cancer, one way or the other. Whether it be through Youtube, celebrities, or other people we may know. Cancer has affected us in so many ways, it just shouldn't be considered a joke. Really, it's not funny. I know a lot of people here that throw around the word: "Cancerous." or something of the sort. 'Stop. Please. It's nothing to joke about. It's really insensitive, and coming from a person like myself, that's really something. But seriously. Don't. Just.. Please.. Don't. '

That's all.

-Eternal.