Leukemia is a cancer of the blood cells, most of the blood cells in our body form in our bone marrow. With Leukemia, the cancerous cells form and overrun the healthy cells in the bone marrow. There are several types of Leukemia and the type you develop depends on the type of blood cells that become cancerous. For example, acute lymphoblastic leukemia is cancer in of our lymphoblast which are white blood cells that fight off infection. Of all our cells the white blood cells are the most common to become cancerous. Leukemia occurs most often in adults age 55 or older or in children younger than 15. Leukemia can be either acute or chronic. With acute being the fastest growing of all cancers and chronic being a slow-moving cancer. Leukemia, as well as all cancer, has many symptoms. These include fatigue and weakness, easy bruising or bleeding, abdominal discomfort, frequent infections and bone and joint pain. All of these can be signs of cancers and if you experience two or more of these symptoms at any time you should see your doctor immediately. …show more content…
Treatment for leukemia depends on many factors. Your doctor determines treatment options that are based on factors such as age, overall health, type of leukemia and whether it has spread to any other part or parts of your body. There are several major treatments that doctors seem to choose as there first steps. These treatments include but are not limited to chemotherapy, which is a drug treatment given in what are called rounds or cycles to kill the cancer cells. Radiation therapy is a second option where x-rays or other beams of energy are used to damage cancer cells and stop their growth. The third is stem cell transplants, this is a procedure to replace diseased bone marrow, the cancerous cells, with new and healthy bone marrow. These are only a few of the treatment options available to cancer