Blood cancer is a type of cancer that affects your blood cells. Leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma are some of the common types of blood cancer. There are also types called MPNs and MDS.
Blood cancer is caused by changes (mutations) in the DNA within blood cells. This causes the blood cells to start behaving abnormally. In almost all cases, these changes are linked to things we can’t control. They happen during a person’s lifetime, so they are not genetic faults you can pass on.
Some types of blood cancer affect children. Symptoms and treatment can be different between children and adults. Over 40,000 people are diagnosed with blood cancer each year in the UK, and over 250,000 people are currently living with blood cancer.
BLOOD CANCER CAUSES: Although we don’t normally know exactly why someone will develop blood cancer, there are things that we know can affect your risk:
- Age
- Sex
- Ethnicity
- Family history
- Radiation or chemical exposure
- Some health conditions and treatments.
How these factors affect risk depends on the type of blood cancer.
WHAT ARE THE TREATMENT FOR BLOOD CANCER?
Treatment will depend on several factors. These include the type of blood cancer you have, your age, how fast the cancer is progressing and whether the cancer has spread to other part of the boy. Treatments of blood cancer have vastly improved over the last several decades, many types of blood cancers are now highly treatable. Common treatments include the following:
- Chemotherapy: Anticancer drugs are introduced to the body (via injection into the vein or sometimes by taking a pill) to kill and halt the production cancer cells.
- Radiation therapy: This form of cancer treatment uses high-energy rays to kill cancer cells.
- Targeted therapies: This form of cancer treatment uses drug that specifically kill malignant blood cells, without harming normal cells. Targeted therapies are most commonly used to treat leukaemia.
- Cancer surgery: This treatment involves removing the affected lymph nodes to treat some lymphomas
- Immunotherapy: This treatment activates the immune system to specifically kill cancer cells.
Patients diagnosed at advanced stages may have reduced treatment option and lower chances of survival. Therefor raising awareness about blood cancer is important to facilitate early detection and enhance the chance of successful treatment.
One of the ways to provide support is to be a good listener. If you feel overwhelmed or you don’t know what to say when talking to a person wit blood cancer, tell them so. They will probably understand and appreciate that you are thinking about them and want to spend time with them. Support groups can help many people find it useful to talk with other people who understand the complex feelings and kinds of issues that arise for people living with cancer. As these support groups can offer a supportive and informative environment for people to discuss issues important to them.
For help and support concerning of blood cancer you can call for free on 08082080888 to speak to a member of trained blood cancer support team in confidence.
