Beverlye Hyman Fead - Nana, Whats Cancer?

Published by the American Cancer Society
Health Promotions
250 Williams Street NW
Atlanta, GA 30303-1002

Copyright 2010 American Cancer Society

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Manufactured by Dickinson Press Inc.
Manufactured in Grand Rapids, MI, in July 2010
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Printed in the United States of America

6 5 4 3 2 10 11 12 13 14

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fead, Beverlye Hyman.
Nana, whats cancer?/Beverlye Hyman Fead and Tessa Mae Hamermesh.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN-13: 978-1-60443-010-3 (hardcover: alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 1-60443-010-9 (hardcover: alk. paper)

1. CancerJuvenile literature. I. Hamermesh, Tessa Mae. II. Title.

RC264.F43 2009

616.994dc22 2009002094

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From Nana and Tess

To Gideon and Alexander Hyman,
twin grandsons of Beverlye and cousins of Tess

Our wish for them and future generations is to live in a
cancer-freeat least a cancer-controlledworld.

And to the scientists and doctors who will help make this possible.

From Shennen

My heartfelt thanks to Jack Monchik, MD, for making me a cancer survivor.

Contents

CHAPTER 1

Nana whats cancer?

M y granddaughter, Tess, and I sat in my kitchen, eating Girl Scout cookies and drinking chamomile tea. She liked the Tagalong cookiesround, chocolate-covered cookies with peanut butter in the middle. They were her favorites!

I could tell Tess had a lot on her mind. I had been having treatment for cancer, and Tess wanted to know more about it. She said she wanted to ask me some questions about cancerabout the things that bothered her.

It might help if you write out your questions, I told her.

She nodded and with a look of great concentration, jotted down the first question: What is cancer?

I think this is the best way to explain it, I said. Our bodies are made up of cells that grow, divide, and die. But cancer cells dont go through this cycle. They continue to grow and divide and form new cells that are abnormalthese cells act differently than normal cells. Cancer starts when the abnormal cells clump together in a persons body and form a tumor.

For explanation of terms in bold, see page 51.

But, Nana, what is a tumor? she asked.

Of course, I thought, she wouldnt know the meaning of that word, so I said, From now on, when we dont know what a word means, lets look it up.

A tumor is a swelling or mass of tissue in the body. Tissues are groups of cells that have a specific job to do.

There are two kinds of tumors: benign and malignant. Benign tumors are not cancer. They may grow larger, but they do not spread to other places in the body. But malignant tumors arecancerous. They contain abnormal cells. Thats because cancer causes cells in the body to change and grow out of control.

Tess thought for a moment, and then asked, Those bad cells spread, dont they?

Yes, they can enter the bloodstream and travel to different parts of the body. When the cancer spreads, it can destroy the bodys healthy tissues. Healthy cells usually keep themselves under control, but unhealthy cells multiply.

Now, its time to use your imagination. Do you want to show an example of what we mean and draw a group of tennis balls? And then, imagine those tennis balls as tumors?

Yes, that would be easy, Nana! First, Ill draw the normal ones together, and then the abnormal ones that grow apart and spread.

Great, I said. That makes it easier to understand.

CHAPTER 2

What causes cancer?

L ater that afternoon, Tess and I decided to go to a movie. On the way to the theater we listened to Louis Armstrong singing Cheek to Cheek. I had played that song for her in the car since she was a baby.

Tess was singing along, Heaven, Im in heaven. Then she stopped and said, Nana, theres something else I want to ask you.

Sure, I answered. Ask away.

What actually causes cancer?

Tess, we dont always know exactly what causes a persons cancer, but we do know that cancer occurs because of certain interactions between genetics, environment, and behavior.

What do those words mean, and why are they so important? Do they apply to everyone? Tess asked.

Yes, they do. Genetics is the study of how parents pass on certain traits to their childrenlike the color of our eyes and hair, as well as how tall or short we will be when we grow up. Genetics may also tell us if well have any serious health problems and what they might be.

Tess looked at me and said, I know what environment means! Its our surroundings, like the air we breathe and the places we live and play.

I smiled. Thats right. Very good! And then theres behavior, which is what we do, how we act or how we react to things that happen to usto a new situation or challenge.

Heres another way to think about cancer, I said. In a book called The Guide to Fighting for Recovery from Cancer,