Madison Moore

Mrs. Hensel
English 4 Honors
April 23, 2015
Continuing Your Cancer Treatment
You know whats better than having new and improved cells in your body reproducing?
New and improved cells that turn into specialized cells reproducing in your body that help revive
old damaged cells! The reason that the cells are damaged would be because you have gone
through chemotherapy for your cancer. A way to help the damaged cells become good as new
again would be to go through a bone marrow and stem cell transplant. After chemotherapy you
should continue your treatment with a stem cell and bone marrow transplant because it will
produce healthy specialized cells and not leave dead cells in the body and it will also rejuvenate
damaged cells so that they can reproduce into new cells.
A stem cell could be defined as, One of the human body's master cells, with the ability
to grow into any one of the body's more than 200 cell types. Stem cells are unspecialized cells
that are characteristically of the same family type. They retain the ability to divide throughout
life and give rise to cells that can become highly specialized and take the place of cells that die or
are lost (Stem Cell). A bone marrow transplant can be defined as, A procedure in which bone
marrow that is diseased or damaged is replaced with healthy bone marrow. The bone marrow to
be replaced may be deliberately destroyed by high doses of chemotherapy and/or radiation
therapy (Bone Marrow Transplant). You can get the bone marrow for the transplant from
yourself or someone who has the same type as you. The bone marrow is where the stem cells are

located. Red bone marrow contains the most stem cells, but yellow bone marrow also has stem
cells but there is not much availability there opposed to the red bone marrow.
There are two main ways that you can measure the success of the bone marrow and stem
cell transplant, the recovery of blood counts to a normal level thats good and healthy for the
body and how much you have cured the cancer. With the recovery of the blood counts, your goal
would be raise the blood count back to normal or as close to normal as possible. When you go
through the transplant your blood count drops down almost to zero. When it gets that low you
have a higher risk of infection because your immune system will be very weak, danger of
hemorrhage because your blood will be undergoing a change, and you will be very sleepy
because of everything that is happening to you while you are having the transplant. This part of
the procedure should only last around two weeks, maybe longer depending on how your body
reacts, and then your blood count should get back to normal by the multiplying of the stem cells
into the specialized cells that your body needs. The cure of the disease is the hardest way to test
if the treatment has really worked for you. Most of the time you go into remission and thats the
best result, hardly ever does the cancer go away unless it is a cancer of the blood. Then the stem
cells can help cure it. (What is Stem Cells).
Chemotherapy can be defines as, a chemical that binds to and specifically kills microbes
or tumor cells. Chemotherapy can also be called chemo, and that is specifically for oncology
patients who are taking the drug as a treatment for their cancer. The chemo is connected to stem
cells because, In some cases, bone marrow transplantation and peripheral stem cell support are
used to replace blood cell production when it has been destroyed by chemotherapy and/or
radiation therapy. The stem cells are used in a way to replace the damaged and dead cells that
come from the patient undergoing the chemo treatment (Chemotherapy).

Chemotherapys benefits can be measure depending on what type of cancer you have and
what stage you are in. You are either in an early stage or an advanced stage. In the early stages of
cancer, Surgery is performed with the intention of curing the disease. This is often followed by
chemotherapy to reduce the risks of recurrence (Chemotherapy Pros and Cons). In the
advanced stage of cancer, the aim of treatment is to control the cancer by controlling the
symptoms. This enhances survival and ensures a better quality of life (Chemotherapy Pros and
Cons). In the early stages of cancer the surgery has a goal of removing as much of the cancer
from your body as possible and then the chemotherapy is given to you as a way to kill what is
left in your body. In the advance stage you are mainly given chemotherapy as a way to control
the spread of the cancer so it doesnt affect any more of the body (Chemotherapy Pros and
Cons).
Chemotherapy is the use of medicines or drugs to treat a disease, such as cancer. Many
times this treatment is just called chemo. Surgery and radiation therapy remove, kill, or damage
cancer cells in a certain area, but chemo can work throughout the whole body. Chemo can kill
cancer cells that have spread to other parts of the body far away from the original tumor (What
are Stem Cells. Chemo kills cells all throughout the body, which leaves a lot of dead cells which
damages a lot of cells in the body. The words stem cells refer to blood-forming stem cells that
turn into specialized cells to help revive damaged and dead cells. Stem cells mostly live in the
bone marrow where they divide to make new blood cells. Once blood cells mature, they leave the
bone marrow and enter the bloodstream. A small number of stem cells also get into the
bloodstream. These are called peripheral blood stem cells. Stem cell transplants are used to
restore the stem cells when the bone marrow has been destroyed by disease, chemotherapy, or
radiation. Depending on the source of the stem cells, this procedure may be called a bone

marrow transplants (What are Stem Cells). If you choose to continue the treatment with a stem
cell transplant it can better your body by reviving the dead cells and making new, specialized
cells that take the place of the dead ones from the chemotherapy.
You should continue your cancer treatment from chemotherapy with a stem cell and bone
marrow transplant because it will rejuvenate the damaged cells so that they can reproduce into
new, healthy cells to better your body and get you back to a healthier lifestyle. The chemotherapy
kills the cancer cells by eliminating the malignant tumor and/or blood cells that are cancerous.
The stem cells reproduce into new, healthy, specialized cells that can take the place of the
damaged cells that were caused by the chemotherapy. If you choose to continue your treatment
with the stem cells, it will make your body and blood healthy again because it will eliminated the
bad and replace it with the good!

Works Cited
"Bone Marrow Transplant." MedicineNet. MedicineNet, Inc., 28 Aug. 2013. Web. 23 April
2015.
"Chemotherapy." MedicineNet. MedicineNet, Inc., 28 Aug. 2013. Web. 23 April 2015.
"Chemotherapy - Pros and Cons." Medindia. Medindia, n.d. Web. 23 April 2015.
"What Are Stem Cells and Why Are They Transplanted?" What Are Stem Cells and Why Are
They Transplanted? American Cancer Society, Inc., 02 Oct. 2013. Web. 23 April 2015.
What Is Stem Cell/Bone Marrow Transplantation?" Cancer.Net. American Society of Clinical
Oncology, 05 Dec. 2013. Web. 23 April 2015.
"Stem Cell." MedicineNet. MedicineNet, Inc, 19 Mar. 2012. Web. 23 April 2015.