Leukemia Strikes

Have you met someone whose life has been taken over by cancer? I have. In my future blogs, I will be introducing a serious disease that has affected a young, strong girl named Lauren. So, you might ask, what exactly is cancer? Cancer is a growth of abnormal cells in the body, that are uncontrollable. These cells can also be called malignant cells. Most people never find out what caused them to get cancer. Cancer is a very broad subject to stumble upon. So, in that case, I'm going to narrow down the topic in this blog to a special type of cancer called leukemia.


Leukemia is cancer of the white blood cells. The white blood cells swarm the bone marrow and flood the bloodstream. Then, they are not able to perform their proper role of protecting the body against disease because they are defective. According to the National Cancer Institution, so far in 2013 in there are already 48,610 new cases and 23,720 deaths in the United States. In my blogs, I will be talking mainly about acute leukemia. This type is more rapidly developing than chronic leukemia.


Acute leukemia is also split into acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) and acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). AML has more to do with the muscles, while ALL has to do with the lymph nodes. This eight year old that is close to my heart, who I will introduce later on, was recently diagnosed again with AML. Approximately 60% of children with leukemia have ALL, and about 38% have AML.


In my next post, I will introduce you to someone that is very special to me. Also, below I will post some neat pictures that show you more about leukemia in the body.

  

Resource Links for Content and Pictures:

• http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/cancer/cancer_leukemia.html

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leukemia

• http://promegascientifictraining.com/tag/leukemia/

My Blogging Purpose

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Leigha Thompson. My blogs are going to be introducing the public to leukemia and mainly focusing on AML (which I will get into more later on). I will be focusing on this because of an eight year old girl named, Lauren Turner. This girl has impacted my life a great deal. My mom and her best friend, Kristie Turner, have worked together for many years. Kristie is Lauren and Hailey's mother. Posted below is a picture of me and Lauren at my graduation party.