Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The Fighter within...

My dad has been diagnosed with Renal Cell Carcinoma. RCC translates to kidney cancer. After extensive research on his cancer, I wanted to explain to everyone the basics of cancer, and how one's diet can affect their body.

Every adult has some cancer cells in their body and they CAN develop new cancer cells. This is usually no big deal because the immune system is usually capable of dealing with a number of cancer cells.

A person "gets cancer" when there is an imbalance between the number of new cancer cells and the strength of the immune system. Cancer is caused by an abnormally high number of cancer cells being formed or the immune system is weaker than it should be, or maybe BOTH.

When you see something being blamed as a "cause of cancer," it's usually something which can cause more than a normal number of cancer cells to form (i.e exposure to asbestos, cigarette smoke, chemicals) or weakens the immune system. Simply stated, the things that "cause cancer" are things that disrupt the balance between the number of cancer cells in the body and the strength their immune system.

But, please remember, the number of cancer cells in a person's body nor the strength of their immune system has anything to do with the actual formation of new cancer cells.

I'm going to compare this to an infestation of termites in your home. You call Pest Control to get rid of the termites (your immune system) and the number of termites in your home is a function of how fast they breed/spread (the number of cancer cells in your body).

But the Pest Control man, nor how fast the termites breed has anything to do with why the termites got inside your home in the first place.

Learning what causes a normal cell to turn into a cancer cell is the equivalent of learning how the termites originally got inside your home. Once inside your home, the battle between the Pest Control man and the termite breeding begins.

Why is knowing how a normal cell changes into a cancer cell important? It's important because cancer treatments can be designed to turn cancer cells back into normal cells.

It's important to understand because an understanding of how cancer cells form in the first place can help you understand why some cancer treatments are better than others. It helps you understand what you can do to contribute to defeating it.

You need to know your focal point (the location of cancer cells) to know where to aim to kill those cancer cells. The Pest Control man needs to know where the termites are located to kill the termites.

Which is why I want to express how important it is for everyone to change their diet. We'll refer to it as preventive maintence.

My dad and I are on a Vegan diet, as of Saturday. We'll no longer consume alcohol, meat, dairy products, sugar, caffeine, or salt. It'll rid is body of toxins, kill cancer cells, help produce new cells, and help him remain in good health. I'll explain the "in's & out's" of his diet on a later day.

Work is starting to get busy...

1 comment:

  1. You are very right when you say it's important to know where the cancers "orgin" site. In my mom's case, it's unknown because the cancer cell that caused it isn't where it matasticized. Therefore, the doctors are playing a guessing game on how to treat my mother. This isn't good for her because the more they know about the site of orgin, the better the outcome can be for her treatments becuase they will know which cancer medications will help the most. Unfortunately, it does happen at times where the doctors can't find the point of orgin (the cell that caused the cancer to start spreading).

    Anyway, I think you are right about going on a diet. I probably need to do that. Good luck to you and your family. Cancer is a very tough thing to deal with. I hope your dad is able to overcome his. You guys will be in my prayers. :) :)

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