What Is Leukemia?So...you're asking "What is leukemia?" Well, before our 3 year old son, Kaden, was diagnosed I did not know what it was either. I remember seeing the little children on the St. Jude TV shows and crying. I knew it was a serious condition but it was not until shortly before his diagnosis that I realized it was cancer. I have learned a lot since then so let me share with you. Now to answer your question. Leukemia is a general term for four different types of blood cancer. This cancer begins when a single cell in the bone marrow goes through a change and becomes a leukemia cell.
Bone marrow is the spongy center of bones. This is where blood cells and lymphocytes (which provide immunity to infection) are formed. The cell multiplies into many cells as it goes through the "leukemic" change. These abnormal young white cells are called blasts. They grow and survive better that normal cells. They eventually crowd out normal cells and spill over into the blood. The first few days that Kaden had blood work done there were no blasts in his blood. But the day he was diagnosed, which was four days after seeing his oncologist, the blasts were then present in his blood. Leukemia cells may also invade the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord). Looking for specific information about leukemia? Use our sitesearch tool to find it. Just type a keyword in the box below and sitesearch will find it for you.  Custom Search Return to from What Is Leukemia to Home Page
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