Reviews

“Concise, easy to read … This book must be seriously considered by anyone who has been diagnosed with breast cancer.”
- Eric Taylor, MD, FACR
Member, Virginia Mason Medical Center
Member, American Cancer Society National Board

“An absolute gold mine of information!”
- Lawrence Solin, MD, FACR
Professor, University of Pennsylvania

Excerpt

What is Cancer?
All of our organs are made of cells, the body’s building blocks. Normally, cells function for a while, die, and are replaced by new cells. Sometimes, the cells are replaced in a disorderly way, and cannot be organized by the body. An abnormal growth of cells can occur, called a tumor. Cancer is cells growing out of control. The change from normal cells to cancer cells requires several changes in the genes (DNA) of the cell. Over time, these changed genes can lead to a benign (not cancer) growth or a malignant (cancer) growth.

Metastasis (muh-TASS-tuh-sis) Cancer cells have the potential to break away from the primary cancer in the breast and travel (via the book and/or lymph vessels) to other parts of the body. Lymph is a nearly clear fluid that drains waste products from cells and carries abnormal (including cancer) cells. The fluid travels through the lymphatic vessels to lymph nodes. These nodes try to remove the cancer cells, but if there are too many cancer cells, the nodes may not be able to remove all of them. The cancer cells can then travel (metastasize muh-tass-tuh-size) to distant parts of the body such as the bones, liver and lung.