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Tricia Stringham Sister Kurki Eng. 111 29 March 2000 Leukemia Approximately 29,000 individuals each year are diagnosed with Leukemia (National Cancer Institute 1). Leukemia is a form of cancer that affects the body’s ability to produce healthy blood cells (National Cancer Institute 1). As Leukemia is becoming more prevalent in our society, it is important that we are able to understand what leukemia is affecting within the body and recognize the possible risks, symptoms, and treatments of different types of this cancer. In understanding Leukemia, it is important to know how blood is classified. Every individual has two main types of blood cells: red blood cells called erythrocytes; and white blood cells called leukocytes (United States 2). Both erythrocytes and leukocytes begin as one specific cell. This cell called a stem cell, originates in the bone marrow and will differentiate and develop into either an erythrocyte or a leukocyte according to the need of the body at a particular time (United States 2). White blood cells are the body’s way to defend itself from illness or disease (United States 3). Leukemia, meaning “white blood,”(“Leukemia” 1) directly affects the body’s ability to produce and develop

" What You Need to Know About Leukemia. The second method for transplant is in the case that the patient has an identical twin, whose marrow would perfectly match (United States 9). As mentioned above, a patient is first given radiation therapy or chemotherapy in hopes of ridding the body of the leukemic cells. Allogeneic bone marrow transplants are those in which the patient receives healthy marrow from a donor who has the same marrow type as the patient (United States 10). According to the National Cancer Institute, Acute Leukemia makes up nearly sixty percent of the cases reported each year (United States 4). Ordered to Pay 4-million Dollars to the Parents of Student Who Died of Leukemia. Awareness of the avoidable risks leading to leukemia can decrease the possibility of developing this cancer. Leukemia is not a disease that is completely understood, despite the tremendous amount of research being gathered concerning it (United States 5). Although these treatments follow a similar outline with each type of cancer, some treatments have a higher success rate with a specific treatment over another. In addition to those side effects, a patient"tms risk of infection is greatly increased, as well as the possibility of graft-host disease (National Cancer Institute 9). The advancement of accelerated phase and the blast phase is much like the advancement of acute leukemias (United States 16). High radiation in child patients can occasionally lead to coordination and learning disabilities (National Cancer Institute 9). The major difference between acute leukemia and chronic leukemia is that despite similar treatments chronic leukemia is seldom curable (National Cancer Institute 4).