What is blood cancer?

Blood cancer is also called as leukemia. This is a disease which unfortunately, is not very rare. Within a population of 1,00,000 about 2-5 individuals will get blood cancer every year. In fact, there is some suggestion that the frequency of blood cancer might be increasing in the community.

There are many different types of leukemias and they are seen in people of all age groups. However, one type called acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is more common in children. There are several other types such as acute meyloid leukemia (AML) which are commoner in adults.

Our bone marrow is present in the bones. This is the factory where blood cells are normally made. There are three different kinds of blood cells; red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs) and platelets. 

Blood cancer arises when one of the normal stem cells in the marrow becomes cancerous. A cancer cell multiplies uncontrollably to form billions of leukemia cells. These are called blasts. These blast cells spread throughout the bone marrow and soon start circulating in the blood. 

The rapidly growing cancer cells replace the normal bone marrow. Due to this the marrow is not able to produce any normal RBCs, WBCs or platelets.  Patients soon develop problems from the deficiency of these normal blood cells.

These symptoms of blood cancer are:

• Low RBCs, which lead to low hemoglobin and hence symptoms of anemia, such as fatigue and inability to carry out routine daily activities.
• Low WBC, which are the soldiers of our body, lead to infections. Infections commonly occur in the lungs, causing pneumonia.
• Low platelets could lead to bleeding from the gums, urine, bowels and also the skin.

What are the problems with blood donation?

After donating blood some people may have giddiness. But this goes away in a short period of time. The doctors who are conducting the blood donation will check the donor for fitness. If the donor is healthy there are usually no problems. Blood can be safely donated every 3-6 months. I myself donate blood every 3 months and it gives me a lot of satisfaction to do so. So happy donatin