Children are more likely have to severe side effects from radiation than adults because children …show more content…
According to Isla Whitcroft, “radiotherapy is an incredibly successful method of treating cancer, increasing survival rates by around 50 per cent. It works by bombarding the tumour or tumour site with X-rays to kill the dividing cancer cells” (Whitcroft). Dr. Sylvie Delanian states in the same article, “Radiation is a great tool, but can also be very dangerous. As a profession, we should try to find a way to minimise the risk and deal with the effects” (Whitcroft). The risks of radiation can leave the patients with a lifetime of suffering. By undergoing radiation therapy, the procedure inevitably affects the healthy cells surrounding the unhealthy cancer cells that are targeted for the procedure. Areas the most affected by radiology that are more likely to have long-term damage are the lungs, the jaw, and the bowls (Whitcroft). The reason that these areas are the most likely to be affected are thought to be the mucus lining of the bowel and the fragile sacs of the lungs are the most vulnerable places in the body. In doing so, it inevitably affects surrounding healthy cells Richard Wayman, a man who, after a year after having radiation treatment for his tonsils,was struggling to walk and felt a painful tingling in his legs. After being admitted to the hospital and having doctors take X-rays, scans, and perform several tests, they determined that he had lesions on his lungs, which caused him to fear that cancer was spreading through his body. He was admitted to another hospital to undergo a biopsy, which as a result, he contracted pneumonia and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The lesions on his lungs were determined to be a side-effect of the radiotherapy Richard had undergone. He soon had a tooth extraction and a few weeks afterwards, the bone around the area his tooth was extracted from became infected. Within just a few months, there was an