When somebody dies of cancer, what exactly is the actual reason the body stops working?
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I am a medical scribe for an oncologist.
The most common type of cancer is follicular lymphoma. Its also the most curable and has a 95% cure rate.
It’s basically cancer of the follicles of lymph nodes. The worst part is it usually spread quickly if not treated quickly. Most patients are asymptomatic and don’t know they have it hntil their blood work comes back abnormal.
Cancer creates “mutated” or abnormal cells to grow. Usually these cells create a huge mass that obstructs the organ or organs surrounding it.
Lymph nodes are out body’s defense mechanism and a part of out immune system. Follicular lymphoma if left untreated, would act much like an autoimmune disorder, slowly inhibiting the immune system, meaning the person with it would gradually become sicker and sicker and something like the common cold could potentially be fatal for them.
Other cancers like lung, liver, bladder, brain, and other secluded organ cancers destroy the organ it develops in. Metastatic (meaning it spreads through the blood stream) is the worst because the cancer develops then spreads through to several other organs and parts of the body.
I see and take notes on patients with anything from the least severe such as melanoma of the skin, to the worst such as brain cancer or leukemia.
Cancer is basically a cell mutation that eats and destroys healthy cells. Depending on where the cancer is in the body, death can be caused by organ failure. Leukemia causes the bone marrow to stop producing red blood cells causing issues like neutropenia (lack of white blood cells) or thrombocytopenia (lack of red blood cells) and basically that person would pass away from severe anemia.
It is a very complex, scary, disease. And although some of it has a 95% cure rate, there is no guarantee that the chemotherapy or immunotherapy will work.
We see patients that live with cancer for YEARS on chemo, and we see others who are terminal.
It all depends on how fast the cancer progresses it what stage its in, how well your body reacts to the chemotherapy or immunotherapy, and how willing you are to fight it.
I see some sad cases everyday. But some patients give me hope that as technology advances, there will be an increase in certain cancer’s being able to go into remission quicker and have a higher cure rate percentage.
But no cancer is good, and the quicker it can be treated, the better your chances are!
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