BC: Parallel to A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks
FC: Luekemia Jamie Sullivan's diagnosed diagnosed disease By: Sydney Edwards April 4th, 2008 2nd period
1: Luekemia is the cancer of the bone marrow. Bone marrow is located inside your bones and produces blood cells and platelets. Cancer is when the mitosis of a cell is | warped and the cells starts to divide uncontrollably. This happens in the bone marrow, usually with white blood cells. So many white blood cells are produced that there is no room in the blood for other neccessities, such as red blood cells to carry oxygen or platelets to help blood clot. Luekemia is usually classified into two forms: acute and chronic.
2: Acute luekemia is popular in small children and young adults. It is characterized by the rapid increase of immature white blood cells in the blood marrow, therefore making the marrow unable to produse healthy white blood ceels. This overcrowding then spreads to the blood and then to the organs and the rest of the body. Treatment is needed immediatly due to the rapid progression of acute luekemia.
3: an alarming rate. This build up takes years to actually notice and unlike acute luekemia, the symptoms might have to be monitored for a time before treatment can take place in order for treatment to be successful. | Chronic luekemia mostly occurs in older adults, but can occur at any age. It is characterized by the slow build up of relatively healthy, but still abnormal blood cells. These cells are also produced at
4: The word luekemia means "white blood." This is taken from the diseases high count of white blood cells in blood stream of an efffected patient before treatment.
5: Symptoms of luekemia often inculde: *Fevers, chills, nightsweats, and other flu-like symptoms. *Weakness and fatigue *Swollen or bleeding gums *Headaches *Enlarged liver or spleen *Frequent infection *Bone pain *Joint pain *Dizziness *Nausea *Swollen tonsils *Diarrhea *Paleness *Weight loss
6: Some luekemia victims do not have high white blood cell counts. The infected and mutated white blood cells stay in the | marrow and never enter the blood stream. This less common strand is called aleukemia.
7: Some causes for luekemia are: | *Natural or artificial ionizing radiation. *Certain kinds of chemicals *Some viruses (HIV) *Genetic predispositions (Like all cancers, luekemia results from mutations in the DNA.) *Fanconi anemia (A childhood disease associated with ethnic background. It is characterized by short stature and bone marrow failure.)
8: Treatment for luekemia consist of chemotherapy and blood marrow transplants. Chemotherapy targets quikcly dividing cells and freezes their mitosis cycle, so they cannot divide anymore. Unfortunatly, this also includes hair cells, intestinal lining cells and skin cells, resulting in loss of hair, sick stomach and fragile skin. | In a blood marrow transplant, blood marrow is taken from a donor and injected into the bone of the luekemia patient. After recieving the marrow, the patient is required to stay in the a monitored area with filtered air, sterile food and sterilization of microorganism in the stomach. This is continued until the patients white blood cell count is well over five hundred.
9: Until the main cause or causes of luekemia is found, there is no way to prevent the disease. Even if the causes are someday found, luekemia still may not be readily controllable.