Page 8 - Kids and Cancer

cells and, as a result, the person can become weak, tired, dizzy,
and short of breath. Without platelets to clot the blood, a person
will bruise and bleed easily and suffer bleeding episodes, such as
severe nosebleeds. Without enough of all the different kinds of
white blood cells, a person gets frequent infections. Leukemia also
causes bone and joint pain when the cancer cells build up near the
surface of the bone or joint. Other symptoms include loss of ap-
petite, weight loss, swollen liver and spleen, and headaches; with
AML, rashes from leukemia cells also spread to the skin.
The symptoms of leukemia can

“When I was nine I occur with many other illnesses, and
began to feel very sick.” 6 each individual can have a unique con-
stellation of symptoms. Whereas some

—Ruben, leukemia patient people feel unusually weak, others no-
tice different problems. Thirteen- year-
old Ruben, for example, remembers, “When I was nine I began to
feel very sick. It began with my neck hurting to where I could not
move it. Later the pain went down to my chest and ribs.” Ruben
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had ALL, for which he needed immediate treatment.

Solid Tumors of the Brain and Spinal Cord

Leukemia, as a cancer of the blood, does not form solid tumors,
but the second most common form of childhood cancer does.
About 26 percent of childhood cancers are brain and spinal cord
tumors. These tumors are also among the most common can-
cers in teens. Several types of brain tumors have been identifi ed,
depending on where in the brain they originate and what kind of
brain cells are involved. In general, though, they are masses of
abnormal cells that can spread throughout the brain and spinal
cord. Most such tumors in young people begin in the lower parts
of the brain—in the cerebellum or the brain stem. No matter what
part of the brain they affect, about half of all pediatric brain and
spinal cord tumors are gliomas, meaning they start in glial cells.
Glial cells surround and support the nerve cells, or neurons, in

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