Blood cancer is an umbrella term for cancers that affect the blood, bone marrow, and lymphatic system.
Unfortunately, blood cancer affects a large number of people. Every 20 minutes, someone in the UK is told they have a blood cancer. There are 70 people a day, 25,000 people a year.
There are three main groups of blood cancer:
Leukemia
Lymphoma
Myeloma
Blood cancers affect the production and function of your blood cells. Most of these cancers begin in the bone marrow where blood is produced. Bone marrow stem cells mature and develop into three types of blood cells: red blood cells, white blood cells, or platelets. In most blood cancers, the normal process of developing blood cells is interrupted by the uncontrolled growth of an abnormal type of blood cells. These abnormal blood cells, or cancer cells, prevent the blood from performing many of its functions, such as fighting infections or preventing serious bleeding.
Treatment
People with blood cancer often take medications called chemotherapy or immunotherapy. If the blood cancer is in one place, they may have radiation therapy. A bone marrow transplant is a difficult way to kill blood cancers.