What is cancer?

Cancer starts when normal human cell activity breaks down, for instance, extra cells start rapidly dividing and form tumors or when damaged cells survive instead of dying. This can happen anywhere in the body in both solid tumor form or liquid/blood tumors. Cancerous tumors have the ability to spread or metastasize, which is usually signaled by a stage 4 diagnosis.

But for many of us facing a diagnosis, whether a patient or as a caregiver, the literal definition doesn’t answer much. What we want to know include questions like:

• What can we expect?
• How do I tell my loved ones?
• Will I lose my hair?
• Can I work through my treatment?
• Do I need to preserve my fertility?