• Question: what is cancer caused from? why do some people get it and others dont

    Asked by jessh to Adam, Catherine, Karen, Leila, Nazim on 14 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Adam Stevens

      Adam Stevens answered on 14 Mar 2012:

      There are a lot of possible causes, but the basic science is that cells in your body can be damaged in such a way that they start to divide (grow) uncontrollably.

      This is a totally random thing. Some people may be more likely to get a certain type of cancer because they have a particular version of a gene, but some people might get cancer by total random chance.

      Radiation is one of the known causes – being exposed to radiation makes your cells more likely to get damaged and become cancerous.

      It’s a very sad thing when someone gets cancer, but unfortunately it doesn’t pick and choose 🙁

    • Photo: Catherine Rix

      Catherine Rix answered on 14 Mar 2012:

      Healthy cells know when to grow and divide and when to stop growing and eventually they die and are replaced by new cells. Cancer cells grow and divide uncontrollably and they don’t die. This can damage other nearby healthy cells and make you sick. There are many different types of cancer which can affect different types of cells in your body.
      There are several different causes of cancer and we don’t understand all of them very well. There are some cancers that you are more likely to get if someone else in your family has had it too. This suggests that there is something in your DNA that makes you more susceptible. There are also environmental factors like exposure to certain chemicals, radiation, being overweight and drinking alcohol and smoking that can increase your risk of getting certain types of cancer.
      Treatments for cancers are improving so people who do get cancer are living longer, and lots of research is carried out to try and understand cancers and how we can treat them and prevent them.

    • Photo: Leila Battison

      Leila Battison answered on 19 Mar 2012:

      Cancer is basically cells in your body that grow abnormally and uncontrollably. If they aren’t stopped, they can poison your other cells and stop your organs from working. There are over 200 different types of cancer, and they’re all slightly different, so finding a cure is really difficult.

      Some cancers might be passed on through families – breast cancer for example – and some you might get by directly interacting with the outside world, like sunbathing without protection can give you skin cancer, and breathing in a lot of smoke can give you lung cancer…

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