• Question: @jade why do peoples cancer come back just after theyve got rid of it?

    Asked by katnisseverdeen12 to Andrew, Jade, Jessica, Kevin, Lynn on 23 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Jess Wade

      Jess Wade answered on 23 Jun 2015:

      hey katniss,
      Cancer comes back because they’ve never really gone. It means that after the treatment, a few of the dangerous cells hang about. When the cells start to multiply again, that is the cancer coming back. It can come to the same part or a different part of the body. They can do some good treatments now to try and get rid of the cancers.

    • Photo: Jade Owen

      Jade Owen answered on 24 Jun 2015:

      Cancer is a collection of cells that don’t work properly and they continually replicate themselves. When they get big enough they can start to affect other bits of the body working properly and then make the person ill.

      There are lots of medicines used to kill off these cancer cells some of which can accedently kill of normal cells in the process which is why some have nasty side effects.

      Sometimes when treating cancers a few cells are left behind and not killed which means they eventually get big enough to cause problems again. In other cases some cells break off the main tumour and end up at other parts of the body whilst the original site is being treated and can get missed.

      Thankfully there is lots of research to help fight cancerous cells and many more people recover fully from different types than before.

Comments