I decided to make a post about cancer, how to possibly get it detected early, and some good places to donate to. Hundreds of thousands die of cancer yearly, so it's important to understand it!
This post will problably made over several days, maybe even weeks, because despite watching loved ones die from it, I still need to research to make sure the information I get for you all is true.
We should problably start with an educational segment of:
What is cancer? How does it spread and form?
Well cancer starts when a new cell forms abnormally and start multiplying, usually your immune system kills that cell before it starts any multiplying, but if your immune system fails to detect and kill it fast enough it multiplies into more cancer cells.
The abnormal cells don't do any job, taking up valuable space and resources. When they spread to organs or blood vessels they disrupt the cells working there by taking the space the correct cells are supposed to be in.
It's kind of like bloatware on computers, it doesnt do anything bad by itself but it disrupts and stops other neccesary cells from working.
This can end up killing parts of the body or stopping neccesary organs from doing their jobs, which causes severe illness.
Now:
Who can be affected by cancer?
Anyone can! The chances of getting cancer get higher with age and if your parents have bad genetics (cancer can be hereditary.), but that doesn't mean a young person can't develop it.
Anyone can develop cancer at any age, even if older people are more at risk.
But we need to know now:
What are the symptoms?
Various cancers have various symptoms, but common ones are fatigue, rapid weight loss or gain, tumors, trouble breathing, change in skin or how your body normally works.
We will go over each of these symptoms a bit.
So fatigue is when you feel really tired and lack energy, even if you sleep well. Unlike usually, if you have cancer fatigue won't go away with self-care and proper diet, hydration, rest. Of course fatigue can also mean other illnesses apart from cancer, so you should consider other things too.
Now for rapid weight change. If you haven't changed diet or life-style, but suddenly start gaining or losing weight rapidly, that can mean something INSIDE your body changed. That can be a symptom for quite a few issues, including cancer.
Tumors, most people have heard of them. When abnormal cells grow from one cell, there's often an area in which they're more close together. If there is enough in one area it can make a tumor develop. Some tumors aren't cancerous, but some also are. It can sometimes be a bit difficult to tell apart a cyst and tumor and we will talk about that in another segment more extensively.
Trouble breathing is a common symptom of illnesses that affect lungs, trachea, throat, nose, or the whole body (in cases of trouble with oxygen levels and not breathing, that could be a symptom of issues with the cardiovascular system instead.).
Change in skin actually describes a few symptoms, but they are pretty easy to understanding so they won't need a long explanation. So first of all an abnormal change in skin tone can mean very bad things, for example if your skin is turning yellow, green, or blue, that's a very bad sign.
Sometimes change in skin can mean patches or melanomas, or even skin struggling right over a tumor, we will talk about melanomas further later. So in this case change in skin can mean if it changes colour like explained in the last paragraph, or if it changes texture. If you have a skin patch that has weird texture or colour that can be very bad. The bad textures are often described as leather-y or chalk-y, but it varies person-to-person!
Now change in how your body normally works is very broad, because it can be nearly anything. For example, different amount of bowel movements, feeling differently, controlling your body becoming harder, appetite issues. It can be a part of most illnesses because it just means something is different inside you than it was before, so it usually doesn't indicate cancer unless it's with other symptoms.
If you have any of these, especially if multiple, it would be a good idea to consult your doctor. Even if you're not sure, you wouldn't want to wait until it worsens!
Now about how to spot tumors and melanomas, and separate them from cysts and moles, birthmarks.
Let's start with an explanation on what is a cyst, now as a fair warning they CAN be cancerous, but most cysts are sebaceous, they're spheres of liquid (or semi-liquid) under you skin, usually bacteria. They usually go away on their own, but in some cases they may be needed to be drained by a doctor. Usually, they don't hurt or aren't visible apart from being a bump, but if they do hurt or look weird you should contact a doctor.
Usually cysts aren't cancerous, but they can still be, and in some cases they can also be infected.
Cysts in location like organs can be very bad, but they're also very hard to detect by yourself.
Now, we can talk about how to differentiate them, but because of the various shapes and sizes both cysts and tumors have, if anything feels weird you should visit the doctor, even if you think it's just a cyst. They can check it and make sure it isn't going to be really bad.
Unlike cysts, tumors are not usually filled with liquid, most of the time they're fleshy and solid. Cysts aren't supposed to change colour or be painful (unless the skin around it is being stretched, but then you should still consult a doctor), but tumors often are, though if a cyst gets bruised it can look quite weird, it's not good to risk it being a tumor unless you are very sure it's a bruise and know what caused it. If it's red, swollen, or bleeding then get it checked out eitherway, of course unless it's bleeding because of an injury (cut, stab, scratch, etc.)
If any lump or bump gives you concern of any kind you should ask a doctor about it. Because of the many, many, many different tumors and cysts, this post can't account for finding every single possible tumor. Despite my efforts and research, it's just clearer that some stuff you can't diagnose without appropriate education.
Now let's talk about what is a mole.
You get a mole when your skin messes up and melanocytes (the cells that produce melanin!) grow in a group instead of growing evenly. It's harmless apart from aesthetic. They can be a little bump, but otherwise theur colour can range from nearly the same as your skin to dark browns.
On the other hand a melanoma is the most dangerous type of cancer, it starts in the melanocytes, the same cells that accidentally make moles, and grows on the skin. It can spread to anywhere from the skin. It usually forms on the outside of your body, but in rare cases it has been found to grow in eyes, nose, throat. They are more likely to appear if you often have exposure to UV radiation (tanning beds and sunlight for example).
A good way to decrease your chances of developing a melanoma is wearing sunscreen, staying in the shade, and avoiding tanning beds, not tanning too much in the sun itself. It can also be genetic and if your family has a history of skin cancers (especially melanomas) you should be even more aware of it, and consult your doctor.
Now for separating moles and melanomas:
Moles are very common, they usually have a clear edge and border, they're round and symmetrical. On the other hand melanomas may look like the edges are blurring or patchy, and they're more often assymetrical.
Melanomas can also change colour, shape, and size, unlike moles. Melanomas often increase in size with time.
Melanomas are also likelier to be larger, but birthmarks can also be abnormally large. Melanomas more often have uneven colour, they can look spotty, patchy.
If you get any weird patches or dots on your skin though, you should consult your doctor, besides melanomas it could also be allergies or infections. Even if it's just a mole, it's way better to go and find out it's harmless, than to not go and find out it's harmful the hard way.
I think I ran out of characters on the post, so I'm reblogging to continue it.
Now that we have an explanation on all of this, time for the segment where we talk about charities you can donate to that research cancer or support it's treatment!
www.curesarcoma.org
www.acco.org (american childhood cancer organization)
www.cancerresearchuk.org
www.cancerresearch.org
These 4 are really good, if you want to find more here is an article with a list of top organizations:
https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/top-cancer-charities
And you should also support wish.org, that's the website for make-a-wish foundation, their goal is to grant a wish for children who are dying.
Thank you for reading! Stay safe and educated
