Effects of Radiation Therapy and Chemotherapy

Effects of Radiation Therapy and Chemotherapy

Throughout the years of my life, I have had to deal with people that I love dearly suffer from cancer. When I was 10 years old, I lost my father to cancer. It was a devastating blow to my life, even though I was young and didn’t really understand what was going on, the impact that it played made on me, made me think what was the point of living. As time went on many people that played a special role in my life died of cancer, and many survived and fought the dangerous disease. Just a year ago, another person to me that meant the world to me told me that they had cancer, and that was my mother. The first thing I thought, death, and how was I going to cope with it. My mother always taught me to think positive before negative, but the word cancer makes you think of death being the fact that it’s a deadly disease. Eventually my mother overcame the disease and is doing well, despite some things that she can’t do anymore due to the effects of radiation. Radiation has not changed my mother at all, but it has made her a wiser person, and she is not ashamed to tell anyone her story.

Cancer is a group of diseases characterized by uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells. Cancer is caused by both external and internal factors. “More than 175,000 women were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in 1999 and approximately 44,000 died of the disease” (Kasper and Ferguson 1). Many people with diets that include a high-level of fruits, vegetables, and fiber may lower the occurrence of some forms of cancer. “Statistically about 547, 000 people will die of cancer” (Cook 5). This is nearly 1, 500 people will die per day. “In the United States, brea...

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...mes suicide. Most people can’t deal with the fact that they can’t go back living their normal lives. Some people won’t admit the guilt, resentment, anger that they feel. Family is a good source to turn to talk about your feelings, and how to cope with the issues your facing. In addition to family, religion is strength for a person to turn to.

“There has been a steady rise in the cancer mortality rate in the United States in the last half-century” (Cook 5). The future of cancer has nowhere to go but up. With all the treatments that helped people overcome the dangerous disease, there will never be a cure for cancer, and if there is than we’ll just be in suspense. Many people survive and beat the disease, but 1 out of every 10 people that beat the disease, will experience the disease again, maybe in the same form, but often in a more serious stage.