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Leukaemia
What's leukaemia and why did my mother get it?
The word Leukemia comes from the Greek leukos which means "white" and aima which means "blood". It is cancer of the blood or bone marrow (which produces blood cells). A person who has leukemia suffers from an abnormal production of blood cells, generally leukocytes (white blood cells).
The DNA of immature blood cells, mainly white cells, becomes damaged in some way. This abnormality causes the blood cells to grow and divide chaotically. Normal blood cells die after a while and are replaced by new cells which are produced in the bone marrow. The abnormal blood cells do not die so easily, and accumulate, occupying more and more space. As more and more space is occupied by these faulty blood cells there is less and less space for the normal cells - and the sufferer becomes ill. Quite simply, the bad cells crowd out the good cells in the blood.
So why does this happen? Why did my mother get it?
Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is the only form of leukaemia that is commonest in childhood (under 15 years of age). Adult ALL is most common between the ages of 15 to 25 and in those over 75 years. ALL is slightly more common in males than in females at all ages.
SO.... either children under 25 or in old people, mostly male, over 75.
So why did a 44 year old otherwise healthy female get it?
The cause(s) of ALL are unknown in most instances. The only clearly identified risk factor for adults is exposure to very high radiation levels such as those seen after the atom bomb explosions in Japan in 1945. Very few people in the Western world are exposed to levels of radiation high enough to increase the risk of leukaemia. No other chemical or physical exposure has been clearly shown to increase the risk of adult ALL.
Radiation? The only clearly unidentified factor for adults? Was my mother near any radiation? We did live in the capitals of China and Malaysia for the 10 years before her death...but I'm not sure she was exposed to very high radiation levels there.
She wove in platelet colours of yellows and reds,
knitting love and hope into rugs and hangings
Picking lichen from trees,
Collecting colours of the Earth
Dyeing the wool in pans.
Her friend brought some red (skimpy) knickers.
(I don't know if she ever wore them)
Encouraging the little red platelets to grow strong
The jolly red mantra to get Mama better.
SYMPTOMS:
Anaemia (lack of red blood cells). This causes fatigue, breathlessness, and a low platelet count, which causes bruising, bleeding of mucus membranes and the gut, and low normal blood cells causing fever and persistant infections. Signs? Fatigue, night sweats, weight loss, itching, breathlessness, bruising, recurrent infections, bone pain, enlarged lymph glands persisting for six weeks...
And all before you've started taking all the chemotherapy drugs. And before your body has really begun to break down.

