Leukemia

In the first unit of the Disease course, which is called Body, the class went over how diseases affect the body, and for the math portion we went over the how units are measured. For the action project, the class was assigned to research a disease and interview someone we know that has been affected by that disease. I chose to research leukemia because it has affected someone very close to me, but I still didn't know much about this type of cancer. It was interesting to learn new things about what was going on in this persons' body, but also seeing how it also affected them as a person . Although the research was challenging, it was also cool to learn new things about this disease. The life size drawing showing which parts of the body are affected was also fun, and crazy to see how much some diseases can spread. Thanks to this unit and project, I now have a better understanding on how body systems work and how they can die out when hit with a disease.


Izzy is 25 year old healthy, college student, but 6 years ago that wasn’t the case. Christmas eve 2009 was the day she was diagnosed with Leukemia. As she was getting ready to go to bed the night before the last day of work, she felt a bit under the weather, with a cold, headache and feeling a little nauseous. She really didn’t think much of it and took some medicine, hoping she would feel better by morning. The next day on her way to work, walking up the train steps was a huge problem for her. She was out of breath by the time she reached the street, along with having some chest pain. The chest pain scared her because her father had experienced a heart attack the year before, resulting to a open heart surgery. Along with still feeling nauseous and being out of breath for awhile, she decided to finally go to the emergency room. Although the doctors had done tests, they found nothing. It wasn’t until one doctor noticed how pale she was that he decided to take a blood test just in case. The results changed everything. It turns out she has Acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The cancer develops in the bone marrow, then makes its way to the blood, and then the lymph nodes and other parts of the body. It’s also known as the cancer of white blood cells. The cells of people who have this type of cancer cells do not work properly and are unable to accomplish what normal cells can do, like fighting off an infection. Leukemia also isn't just one disease. There are four. Those are called acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), acute myeloid leukemia (AML), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).  The blood cells of people with these 4 types cause the Lymphatic system to not function correctly, along with the Immune system, as the body is weak to fight off infections.

Treatment started right away with chemotherapy, something she recalls being really tough. “I was constantly throwing up and fainting. I also had loss of appetite which was so hard especially when I knew I had to eat to keep my strength up, but being nauseous all the time didn't help either.” Along with that many risks and side effects include, anemia, fatigue, higher risk of catching an infection and sensitive to bleeding.

Although anyone anywhere is at risk of being diagnosed with Leukemia, it is more common to be found in developed countries, and race also plays a big part. It is found that Hispanics, especially under the age of 20 are at a higher risk of Leukemia. It is also the most common cancer to affect children. Leukemia is not transmittable since it’s a type of cancer. Research has been done to figure out what causes leukemia, but the closest answers researchers can get is that it links to environmental problems dealing with radiation along to exposure to different types of chemicals, your lifestyle which includes diet, and certain types of infections.


Cancer doesn't just affect the body of the person that it hits, but also the person as a person. I caught on to one thing that I think proves that. “Another symptom that wasn't the worst but hard on me was losing my hair. I knew it was going to happen but I'll never forget the feeling I felt when the first chucks of my hair fell out. I cried! I laughed about it later on that night but being bald for months made me feel self conscious. I embraced it and realized that bald was beautiful.” I hope you understand more of what Leukemia does to your body by looking at my poster.

RD. Photography. Body with Leukemia. 2015