The Power of Mother Nature
According to the experts at the World Health Organization, “Global cancer rates could increase by 50% to 15 million by the year 2020” (para 1). For anyone who is familiar with cancer, it is the uncontrollable mutated cell growth that can either be malignant (bad) or benign (no effect), but also know how hard cancer is to treat. Since cancer rates are predicted to increase dramatically within the next ten years, how on earth are oncologists and scientists going to battle this problem? Today, many of those professionals turn to chemotherapy and radiation to battle the cancer, but is that the right choice? Everyone wants the solution to the problem, and since chemotherapy and radiation are the instant “go-to treatment” …show more content…
With the use of chemotherapy and radiation, the hopeful outcome is beneficial, or ridding the body of the harmful cancerous cells. But if it works, why not use it? Many people think that the side effects of chemotherapy are very manageable, but in all actually, many of them are not. Many of the side effects from chemotherapy include fatigue, loss of hair, diarrhea: but what if these are just short term side effects, and some side effects can effect a person for the rest of their life. One major side effect to chemotherapy is the loss of red blood ccells in the bloodstream, documented by The Cancer Institute (para 12), this can cause anemia, which results in the lack of oxygen to the rest of the body and can, in the long run, really limit a person’s ability to live normally. In an interview I conducted with Lydia Hannah, now a 18 year old senior at Glenwood High School, said when she was battling Acute Lymphatic leukemia at the age of 9, she struggled with several debilitating effects. She recalls, “ The most common thing would be for me to lose all of my energy and throw up a lot (Hannah).” She continued to say that there would be times when she was “skin and bones” because she had no energy to move, eat, or even take care of herself. She recalls one of the hardest parts of chemotherapy was being looked at as an outsider because of her baldness and …show more content…
Unfortunately with the increased use of radiation, negative signs and symptoms have started to appear more frequently as well. Radiation does kind of what it’s name implies: it 's raids the bodies cells, and tries to eliminate the harmful cells that have take the normal cells hostage. It 's good, in some cases when the molecules do their job and destroy the bad. On the other hand, according to the Cancer Institute website it clearly states that similar side effects occur in radiation as they do in chemotherapy. Those include: diarrheas, nausea, dry skin, mouth and throat sores, etc. (para 1,4,5). But alike chemotherapy, long lasting side affects of radiation therapy have been linked to sterility (both men and women), and even have been linked to birth defects in the patient’s children. Everyone who has been associated about radiation and chemotherapy know both of these treatments have effects. Many people, though, neglect the fact that these treatments alone, may not just affect you, but affect your children, and your ability to even have
According to the experts at the World Health Organization, “Global cancer rates could increase by 50% to 15 million by the year 2020” (para 1). For anyone who is familiar with cancer, it is the uncontrollable mutated cell growth that can either be malignant (bad) or benign (no effect), but also know how hard cancer is to treat. Since cancer rates are predicted to increase dramatically within the next ten years, how on earth are oncologists and scientists going to battle this problem? Today, many of those professionals turn to chemotherapy and radiation to battle the cancer, but is that the right choice? Everyone wants the solution to the problem, and since chemotherapy and radiation are the instant “go-to treatment” …show more content…
With the use of chemotherapy and radiation, the hopeful outcome is beneficial, or ridding the body of the harmful cancerous cells. But if it works, why not use it? Many people think that the side effects of chemotherapy are very manageable, but in all actually, many of them are not. Many of the side effects from chemotherapy include fatigue, loss of hair, diarrhea: but what if these are just short term side effects, and some side effects can effect a person for the rest of their life. One major side effect to chemotherapy is the loss of red blood ccells in the bloodstream, documented by The Cancer Institute (para 12), this can cause anemia, which results in the lack of oxygen to the rest of the body and can, in the long run, really limit a person’s ability to live normally. In an interview I conducted with Lydia Hannah, now a 18 year old senior at Glenwood High School, said when she was battling Acute Lymphatic leukemia at the age of 9, she struggled with several debilitating effects. She recalls, “ The most common thing would be for me to lose all of my energy and throw up a lot (Hannah).” She continued to say that there would be times when she was “skin and bones” because she had no energy to move, eat, or even take care of herself. She recalls one of the hardest parts of chemotherapy was being looked at as an outsider because of her baldness and …show more content…
Unfortunately with the increased use of radiation, negative signs and symptoms have started to appear more frequently as well. Radiation does kind of what it’s name implies: it 's raids the bodies cells, and tries to eliminate the harmful cells that have take the normal cells hostage. It 's good, in some cases when the molecules do their job and destroy the bad. On the other hand, according to the Cancer Institute website it clearly states that similar side effects occur in radiation as they do in chemotherapy. Those include: diarrheas, nausea, dry skin, mouth and throat sores, etc. (para 1,4,5). But alike chemotherapy, long lasting side affects of radiation therapy have been linked to sterility (both men and women), and even have been linked to birth defects in the patient’s children. Everyone who has been associated about radiation and chemotherapy know both of these treatments have effects. Many people, though, neglect the fact that these treatments alone, may not just affect you, but affect your children, and your ability to even have