CANCER

THE BIG C -CANCER

I have been asked many times to define what cancer is and what causes it .To help my readers  understand I will draw an analogy.

Imagine you have a spotless white kitchen not a cobweb not even a speck of dust but you know if you drop anything on the floor obviously it would not be as pristine and as clean . So to keep it clean you mop and sweep everyday and use the right type of cleaners. One day you decide to eat snacks in your kitchen and you drop crumbs . This practice continues for a while and you don't clean as you should you neglect to cobweb. Eventually instead of one ant and no cobwebs  you see several ants cobwebs in your kitchen.

This analogy may seem strange but it helped a 12 year old to understand

Likewise the kitchen is our body.  The anti tumor or suppressor gene which is part of the immune response is represented by the mop, broom and bleach which is used to keep the kitchen clean .We go into the kitchen eat, drop crumbs neglect to clean. likewise when we drink excessive alcohol, drink, smoke etc we get cobwebs and ants  which means that gene which is supposed to protect a cell from one step on the path to cancer does not work as it should. Therefore, our cells like the ants multiply because we have created the perfect environment for them to flourish.This leads to tumors and other types of cancers.

Now that you have the overall picture I will give a scientific definition

The oxford dictionary defines it as "the disease caused by an uncontrolled division of abnormal cells in a part of the body"(Oxford Dictionary 2012)

Cancer is not only caused by our lifestyle choices. Other causes include

• Environmental factors such as pollution
• Chemical factors
• Some Scientists have even found that it may be genetic also 

There are several preventative measures

1. Diet eat more vegetables and fresh fruits . 

   Instead of reaching for that favorite snack choose a fruit instead sometimes.  

2. Drink water! It flushes your system and gets rid of waste.

   The relationship between the amount of water and cancer of the bladder was studied in the  New England Journal of Medicine.people who drank less than 5 cups  have a higher risk of bladder cancer than people who drank between 10.4-10.6 cups of water or fluid each day.

3. Excessive alcohol and smoking WILL affect your liver and other organs.

My neighbour always said take a drink for the ticker. He appeared the fittest and was always exercising . His life was cut short by a sudden heart attack. When the autopsy was done they realised if he did not die of the heart attack he would eventually die of cancer of the liver. 

The main point is to make sure our immune system is not weakened by what we can control such as our lifestyles choices.