learn that they have a disease called leukemia.

Leukemia is a type of cancer. Cancer is a group of more than 100 diseases that have two important characteristics in common. One of those is that certain cells in the body become abnormal. The other characteristic is that the body keeps producing large numbers of these abnormal cells.

Leukemia is cancer of the blood cells. To understand leukemia, it is helpful to know about normal blood cells and what happens to them when leukemia develops.

The blood is made up of fluid called plasma and three types of cells. Each type has special functions.

White blood cells - help the body fight infections and other diseases.

Red blood cells - carry oxygen from the lungs to the body's tissues and take carbon dioxide from the tissues back to the lungs. The red blood cells give blood its color.

Platelets - help form blood clots that control bleeding.

Normally, blood cells are produced in an orderly, controlled way, as the body needs them. This process helps keep us healthy. When leukemia develops, the body produces large numbers of abnormal blood cells. In most types of leukemia, the abnormal cells are white b

The symptoms of chronic lymphocytic leukemia usually develop gradually. Patients tire more easily and may feel short of breath when physically active. They may also lose weight, and may experience frequent infections of the skin, lungs, kidneys, or other sites.

There are several types of leukemia. They are grouped in two ways. One way is by how quickly the disease develops and gets worse. The other way is by the type of blood cell that is affected.

The 60-year-old sibling or offspring of a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia would have three chances in ten thousand of developing the disease compared to the one chance in ten thousand for a 60-year-old person without a family history of the disease. The disease is very uncommon in individuals under 45 years of age. At the time of diagnosis, 95 percent of patients are over age 50 and the incidence of the disease increases dramatically thereafter.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) occurs in both adults and children. This type of leukemia is sometimes called acute nonlymphocytic leukemia (ANLL).

In acute leukemia, the abnormal cells may collect in the brain or the central nervous system (CNS). The result may be headaches, vomiting, confusion, and loss of muscle control.

Each year, nearly 7,300 persons in the United States learn that they have chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The disease may be referred to as chronic lymphoid leukemia or as CLL.

lood cells. The leukemia cells usually look different from normal blood cells since they do not function properly.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Leukemia Leukemia, Philadelphia Ph-negative, , DNA CLL, Treatment AML, Clinically CML, ANLL Chronic, IFN-&agr Conventional, CLL CLL, blood cells, lymphocytic leukemia, acute myelocytic, myelocytic leukemia, chronic lymphocytic, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, acute myelocytic leukemia, myeloid leukemia, abnormal cells, stem cell, acute lymphocytic leukemia, twenty-first century, twentieth century, myeloid leukemia aml, normal blood cells,
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Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)