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Leukemia Cancer Research Paper

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Jack woke up one morning not feeling well. He felt very weak and could not get out of bed. His mother decided to take him to the doctors. The doctors took many tests to figure out what was making him feel that way. After about an hour or two the doctors got the results back from a blood test. Results that would change Jack’s childhood for the worse. Jack has been diagnosed with Leukemia, a blood cancer. Of course, Jack was not sure what that meant but, his parents became worried beyond belief with the long road ahead of them. Scientists and researchers were all involved in the discovery of Leukemia cancer, which increased knowledge of this cancer, decreased deaths and discovered treatments, and started charity groups to fund research.
John …show more content…

Leukemia was diagnosed for the first time in Edinburgh by John Bennett. Later in 1868, a vital discovery was made about changes in bone marrow and the red blood cells on leukemic patients. “The earliest report of the illness to have been made by Velpeau. Velpeau reported a case of a 63 year old woman who had a fever, swollen stomach, as well as being generally weak” (Thomas 63). At the time they have not discovered leukemia, so they were unsure what it was. Scientist has also found dinosaur bones from over millions of years old that had leukemia. Neumann discovered that changes in bone marrow are linked with the source of blood. Leukemia comes from Greek words “leuko” and “Heima” that means white blood. The Greeks were given credit for leukemia. “Leukemia is a cancer of blood and bone marrow. It affects white blood cells called lymphocytes” (Childhood, Pediatric). Leukemia is started when the DNA of white cells are mutated or damaged. A child that has a sibling with leukemia has a greater chance of developing it than someone without a sibling but the risk is still low. The risk of a twin to developing leukemia is a lot greater than just being siblings. Leukemia is one deadliest cancers. There are more than 300,000 americans living with this cancer. There are about 150 people diagnosed with leukemia us the U.S and about 70 people die everyday. This cancer is more common for children who are Hispanic and adolescents with the five …show more content…

There are two main and four specific types of leukemia. The two main types are acute leukemia, which is fast growing, and chronic leukemia, which is slow growing. The four specific types of leukemia are chronic lymphocytic (CLL), acute lymphocytic (ALL), chronic myelogenous (CML), and acute myelogenous (AML) that were discovered in 1913. About three quarters of children diagnosed with leukemia have acute lymphocytic which peaks as early as two to four years old. This cancer kills more children that are two or fifteen than anything else. To determine whether the cancer will be chronic or acute is to look at the cell lineage. The blood cell that becomes cancerous explains what type of leukemia it is. Depending on if the white cells, the red blood cells, or the platelets can determine exactly which leukemia it is. “Adults can get either type; children with leukemia most often have an acute type” (Leukemia: MedlinePlus). For a child to get a chronic leukemia is very rare. Now it is known that the cancer starts in the bone marrow, which is where blood cells are formed. Leukemia causes the body to create too many abnormal cells and these abnormal white cells cannot fight infection and also lessen the amount of red cells and platelets. Some of the risk factors of this cancer are large doses of ionizing radiation, being exposed to benzene for a long period of time, rare viruses, genetic disorders, and

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