by Elaine Parrish

Created on: September 10, 2009

What is cancer?

In defining cancer, there is the scientist's terminology, the medical doctor's terminology, and the layman's terminology. This article is an attempt at using something even more basic, and less accurate, than even layman's terminology and uses examples that represent the concept of cancer, but not the exact or precise function of cancer.

A cancer is a growth of abnormal cells that damage healthy cells. Think of cancer as weeds in a garden. If you have flowers, small plants, and weeds in a garden, the weeds, if uncontrolled, will take over the garden killing the flowers and the small plants. This is the killing power of cancer.

The function of cells in the body:

The body is made up of cells. These are microscopic entities that come together to form our bodies. Much like a coral reef where millions of tiny living creatures come together, bind to one another, and create a huge formation, the individual cells form our body.

There are different kinds of cells for each segment. We have cells that create our skin. Different cells create our hair. Other cells create our liver, etc. Each kind of cell is a living organism. Each organism has a center and each center has the blueprint that will be used to procreate. This blueprint is called DNA, which is Deoxyribonucleic acid (De-oxy-ribo Nucleic Acid).

When the cells are ready to reproduce, each cell makes an exact copy of itself, becoming two connected together, and then dividing into two identical individuals. What makes this process work properly is that the cells have a timetable. The cells are born, live to do a specific job, and die at a designated time. So, in essence, there is a job for every worker and a worker for every job. In the event of the death of a few cells (for example, if we cut our finger thereby killing a lot of skin cells that were not supposed to die), the body will produce enough new cells to replace the lost cells (and the finger heals). If massive amounts of cells are lost, such as in an explosion or a horrible car accident, then the body can not repair itself and death occurs.

Cells are living organisms so they must have food, water, and a place to live. Since space and resources are limited, only so many cells can live at a time. As long as everything works properly, the balance of cells is maintained and the body functions normally.

When things go wrong:

A cancer is a growth of cells that do not belong. They eat, drink, and need a place to live. However they do not have

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