Essay about Cancer and Terry Tempest Williams' Refuge

That accident was at urban centre in 1986. consistent with the report two-handed down in 2000 by the global organisation X c. Committee on the consequences of Atomic Radiation, twenty eight employees died within the initial 3 months when the incident, nineteen died between 1987 and 2004 of varied causes not essentially related to radiation

William Carlos Williams’ passion and dedication of medicine can be seen through his literary contributions of short stories and poems. The Doctor Stories use interior monologue in a stream-of-consciousness as a tool to reflect each narrator’s experience and gives insight into the character and his appraisal of each of the situations encountered. It is through this stream-of-consciousness that we come to realize the observational nature of this doctor’s actions and thoughts.

According to the 2008 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau that are approximately 5.9 million people with cancer (Burden, 2010-2015). In Missouri’s population of those with cancer 85 percent are of the white race, 11.5 percent are African-American and 3.5 percent comprise other races with cancer (Burden, 2010-2015). The Center for Disease Control and Prevention is taking a closer look into the community of St. Louis as it has an unusual number of rare cancers developed (Nair, V., 2015). North County contains radioactive waste from America’s nuclear weapons program (Nair, V., 2015). Janell Wright a graduate of McCluer North High School class of 88’ found more than 700 cases in four square miles (Nair, V., 2015).

around the nuclear site and also for the rest of the country and world because

The people of El Paso were exposed to fallout from nuclear bombs during the 1950s. (Grise, 2000) The government was testing these weapons, and many families in El Paso and surround areas were affected by it. The Ramirez children suffered from birth defects such as respiratory issues and physically disabling bone diseases. When Richard was a toddler, he suffered two head injuries that could have seriously damaged his brain. He was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy at an early age, but the doctors could not prove that the toxins or the head injuries had anything to do with it. (Grise, 2000)

Also, there were studies done on the effects of the radiation released in to the environment due the accident.There were many samples of air, water, and vegetation taken by people who were monitoring the area, and none concluded that the accident caused damaging effects on the environment.[10]

Terry Tempest Williams and Wangari Maathai are both very powerful women who devoted their lives to improving the world one step at a time. Williams, the author of Refuge, is a naturalist, a feminist, and a writer who brings such power into everything she touches. Her passion for change has brought so much goodness into the world. She has beat many obstacles, including her own struggle with herself, which to her is the same fight we have with nature, and finally accepting the outcome; whatever that may be unnatural, or natural, is the secret to life. While we read about what Terry Tempest Williams writes about her mother’s difficulties while struggling with cancer, we also have Wangari Maathai speaking about all the violence she faces in Kenya.

civilians. By the end of the year, 140,000 more people were dead as a result of radiation

Williams begins her essay, “The Clan of the One-Breasted Woman,” by outlining her family’s past experiences of breast cancer. She engages the audience by acknowledging that, “Most statistics tell us breast cancer is genetic, hereditary, with rising percentages attached to fatty diets, childlessness, or becoming pregnant after 30. What they don't say is living in Utah may be the greatest hazard of all.” The last point made in that sentence creates confusion, making the audience want to continue reading. The first part of the sentence elaborates about the risk factors associated along with breast cancer. The second sentence implies that Utah might be a reason for her family’s continuous breast cancer. Generally, a state is not a sufficient rationale for cancer to be diagnosed.

Numerous survivors suffered from leukemia, which was the deadliest symptom of the attack. Children were mostly affected by the leukemia. The survivors of the atomic bombing on Japan were said to have a higher risk of getting this cancer than others because of the amount of radiation given off from the denotation of the bomb. Women who were pregnant at the time of the attack experienced a multitude of problems. The pregnant women either had a miscarriage or it would die as an infant. The babies who survived birth usually had some type of learning disability, and they had a great chance of developing cancer later in their

On January 29, 1951, an African American woman named Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with stage 1 epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix, after her visit to Johns Hopkins Hospital. Henrietta began radium treatments which were proven to kill cancer cells and provide a safer alternative to surgery, according to her physician Howard Jones. Jones increased Henrietta’s dose of radiation in hopes of decreasing the size of the tumors, however the treatments were proven ineffective and her skin was burned blacker while the pain grew unbearable until she passed away on October 4, 1951. She was survived by her husband David “Day” and five children: Lawrence, Elsie, David Jr, Deborah, and Zakariyya (Joe). This paper will focus on Henrietta Lacks and her family’s

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a story about a woman who sought treatment for cervical cancer at John Hopkins University in the 1950s. At the same time Ms. Lacks was receiving treatment for cancer at John Hopkins, researchers were exploring more effective means by which

The army created the Manhattan-Rochester Coalition to carry out the Manhattan Project that would conduct human radiation experiments to determine the effects of atomic radiation and radioactive contamination on the human body, generally on people who were poor, sick, or powerless. (Martino-Taylor, Behind the Fog). The tests were usually performed, funded, or supervised by the United States Military. During these tests, the army purposefully released radioactive chemicals over cities in the United States. The purpose of the tests was to measure the health effects of radioactive fallout that resulted from nuclear bomb tests. The focus of this research paper will be the testing done in St. Louis, MO. Another example of similar testing involves

It is now known that radium, shown in figure 4, is a potent carcinogen (a substance the cause’s cancer (Wilbraham, Staley, Marta, & Waterman, 2005)). It emits a form of ionizing radiation which “includes electromagnetic radiation (e.g., gamma rays and X-rays) as well as particles (e.g., alpha particles, beta particles, high-speed neutrons, high-speed electrons, high-speed protons, etc.)” (National Library of Medicine, n.d.). Acute studies have been done on the effects of radium exposure on the human body by organizations like the Geneva World Health Organization, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and Monographs on the Evaluation of the Carcinogenic Risk of Chemicals to Man. As a result of their findings, The National Library of Medicine states that sufficient evidence has been provided showing that prolonged exposure to Raduim-224, Radium-226,

If we bemoan the loss of light as the day changes to night we miss the sunset. In her memoirs Refuge, Terry Tempest Williams relates the circumstances surrounding the 1982 rise in the Great Salt Lake as well as her mother’s death from cancer. Throughout the book Williams gets so caught up in preventing her mother’s death that she risks missing the sunset of her mother’s life. However the Sevier-Fremont’s adaptability to changes in nature inspires Terry Tempest Williams to re-evaluate her response to changes in her life.