So, you've probably heard the word "cancer" before. You probably know it's a disease, but what kind of disease? What does it do? Well, keep reading to find out!

Cancer is a tumor that can be caused by many things:

-You can get lung cancer from smoking tobacco.

-You may get it from bad radiation, like if you don't wear that heavy led apron when you get an x-ray.

-Another possible way is that it can be hereditary.

I won't go into names, but there are a few people I know on Whyville that have cancer. One with ovarian, two with lung cancer, and then another friend with luekemia. Let me explain each type before I go on.

Ovarian Cancer:
Cancer of the Ovary. In most cases it can be treated with chemotherapy to shrink and kill off the cells, this is usually only done in the earlier stages, but if it isn't detected until the tumor is more devloped then usually the infected ovary is just removed.

Lung Cancer:
Cancer of the Lung. The most common way to get lung cancer is smoking. But there's another way to get lung cancer -- second hand smoke. If you are constantly around someone who is smoking there is a higher risk you may develop lung cancer.

Luekemia:
Cancer of the bone marrow. You may have read the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, where one character has luekemia and sadly, dies.

Chemotherapy:
If the tumor is in an early stage, usually chemotheropy can be used to make it smaller, but if it hasn't completly gone away after a round (eight sessions) of chemotherapy, you get a scan to see if any bad cells are still there.

Now here's something many people wonder:
"If I hang out with someone who has cancer, am I going to get cancer?"

No. You can not catch cancer from someone like you do with the common cold. Let me explain: Things like, the common cold, the flu, brid flu, ebola, or chicken pox are viruses. Viruses replicate inside of an existing cell. Cancer isn't a virus, it is its own cell, but mutated. All the cells clump together with pieces of fat and tissue, making a tumor. It cannot spread from person to person.

I hope you learned something from this article about cancer.
-Alig2444

Editor's Note: Cancer is a very intense and personal subject. I encourage all of you to research it on your own and become familiar not only with the many kinds but also with the forms of treatment. Please remain respectful to your fellow Whyvillians in the BBS, because as you know, some of our citizens have had to deal with the disease.