Posted by Klokbox on December 24,2021
These are questions my children wanted to know after their granny (my mother-in-law) got diagnosed recently with cancer. Before answering them I started to ask the same questions, why do people actually get cancer?
First, let’s get clear on what cancer is. According to NHS, cancer is a condition where cells in a specific part of the body grow and reproduce uncontrollably. The cancerous cells can invade and destroy surrounding healthy tissue, including organs.
Cancer is caused by changes to genes that control the way our cells function, especially how they grow and divide. When a cell divides, it makes two more cells in the process. Sometimes, an error can happen during this process, and the cell grows out of control, which can lead to cancer. This is why it is important to have cancer screenings, which are tests of your cells to make sure that they are not becoming cancerous.
Now that I learned what cancer is, I wanted to know what exactly causes it? A little googling and I found out that the main reasons are genetics and environmental triggers but what does that mean? Does it mean we inherit it or does it mean we’re predisposed to cancer? I started to wonder if it was food-related seeing that most food now is genetically modified and is processed or produced using lots of pesticides? So many questions and not enough studies to get to the root cause.
Cancer is a disease that affects every part of our body from our skin and hair to our bones and internal organs. The most common form of cancer is breast cancer, followed by colon and prostate cancer. Cancer can affect almost any other organ or tissue in the body, including the lung, pancreas, liver, and brain. When we become ill with a serious illness like cancer, it’s helpful to understand what causes it and how it affects different parts of the body. This will allow us to make choices that lead to a healthier lifestyle for ourselves as well as others around us.
Almost a half of all cancer cases are caused by mutations in genes, so it's important to understand how these mutations arise. Our understanding of cancer is extremely incomplete, mostly because we don't know much about the different ways that tumors can develop. The causes of cancer are still unknown, but many theories have been proposed.
A researcher named John M. Walker-Smith was studying how the human body might be able to ward off cancer. He realized that many cancer cells were programmed to grow in clusters of three or four cells rather than just one. And he noticed that if he removed those clusters of cells, many of the cancerous tumors would disappear. After several years of testing, he and his team discovered a process called “proliferation inhibition”—a combination of chemicals that caused tumor cells to stop dividing and die as they began to multiply too rapidly like any other cell in your body.
In 2011, Walker-Smith published his work in The Lancet Oncology journal and it went viral on social media and eventually on television news shows across the United States. Of course, people started asking questions about what causes cancer, how prevalent it is and why some people are more susceptible to developing it than others. So Walker-Smith decided to study what was causing those changes so he could learn more about why some people get hit with these types of cancers while others don’t.
We can’t control lots of things when it comes to genetical mutations but we are in control of our enviroment and what we put in our body.
The list goes on and on. One thing we know for sure, we don’t know enough about cancer but there are a few things we can do to minimize the risk like avoiding alcohol whenever possile, not smoking, opting for a higher quality produce and taking care of our environment.
Naviating the unknown can be tough and confusing, but what are the changes you can make today to improve the quality of your life?
All from a simple question raised by my kids, we’ve now decided to live on a little home farm and eat as much organically as possible. Also, due to the grief surrounding the loss of loved ones, I decided to create Klokbox.
Klokbox is a memory box app that helps you stay connected with your family, friend, partner even from the far beyond. It might take decades until we fully understand cancer and have a cure for it but in the meanwhile, we can take ease the suffering surrounded by this devastating disease.
We are on a mission to empower people through memories and stories to record their valuable legacy that will be cherished by future generations.
“Times waits for no one.”
Life makes it very clear especially when you or someone in your family has been diagnosed with cancer or any other terminal illness. That’s why I decided to pursue a healthier lifestyle and take care of my emotional estate. One way I do it is through kloking every day something for my children. Life is unpredictable, but one thing I know for sure is that my kids will have an eternal connection with me through Klokbox.
