Most people are aware that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but how many of you are also aware that September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month?

This cancer, Ovarian Cancer, is the more silent sister to breast cancer-which takes over the month of October with a worldwide pink party and numerous product promotions, some tasteful and some less so. Maybe people and product promoters are just drawn to pink versus the more reserved teal blue color for ovarian cancer. More likely it’s because breasts are visual and ovaries are invisible to the eye.

Remember ovarian cancer is very visible to those diagnosed with it and to their loved ones.  We need to make more noise about ovarian cancer awareness.  First you have to listen… to your body. Ovarian cancer can be sneaky.

Symptoms such as indigestion, bloating, painful intercourse, menstrual irregularities and back pain, can point to other less invasive conditions. While breast cancer has screening protocols like mammograms and breast self-examination, there is no reliable screening for ovarian cancer. Unfortunately for many women the disease is often detected at an advanced stage. Both breast and ovarian cancer are diagnosed in women of all ages and ethnic backgrounds.

Ovarian cancer is a type of cancer that begins in the ovaries. Women have two ovaries, one on each side of the uterus. The ovaries — each about the size of an almond — produce eggs (ova) as well as the hormones estrogen and progesterone.

Ovarian cancer often goes undetected until it has spread within the pelvis and abdomen. At this late stage, ovarian cancer is more difficult to treat, just like most other cancers in late stages as well, and is unfortunately frequently fatal. Early-stage ovarian cancer, in which the disease is confined to the ovary, is more likely to be treated successfully.

Early-stage ovarian cancer rarely causes any symptoms. Advanced-stage ovarian cancer may cause few and nonspecific symptoms that are often mistaken for more common benign conditions, such as constipation or irritable bowel.

Signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer may include and don’t ever ignore them:

• Abdominal bloating or swelling
• Quickly feeling full when eating
• Weight loss
• Discomfort in the pelvis area
• Changes in bowel habits, such as constipation or diarrhea
• A frequent need to urinate (urgency including difficulty to void)
• Increased Abdominal Size
• Painful Sex
• Heavy menstrual bleedingWhen to see a doctorIf you have a family history of ovarian cancer or breast cancer, talk to your doctor about your risk of ovarian cancer. Your doctor may refer you to a genetic counselor to discuss testing for certain gene mutations that increase your risk of breast and ovarian cancers. Only a small number of women are found to have genetic mutations that can lead to ovarian cancer.
• Certain factors may increase your risk of ovarian cancer:
• Make an appointment with your doctor if you have any signs or symptoms that worry you. 

Risk Factors:

• Age. Ovarian cancer can occur at any age but is most common in women ages 50 to 60 years.
• Inherited gene mutation. A small percentage of ovarian cancers are caused by an inherited gene mutation. The genes known to increase the risk of ovarian cancer are called breast cancer gene 1 (BRCA1) and breast cancer gene 2 (BRCA2). These genes were originally identified in families with multiple cases of breast cancer, which is how they got their names, but women with these mutations also have a significantly increased risk of ovarian cancer.
• The gene mutations that cause Lynch syndrome, which is associated with colon cancer, also increase a woman’s risk of ovarian cancer.
• Estrogen hormone replacement therapy, especially with long-term use and in large doses.
• Age when menstruation started and ended. If you began menstruating before age 12 or underwent menopause after age 52, or both, your risk of ovarian cancer may be higher.
• Never being pregnant.
• Fertility treatment.
• Smoking.
• Use of an intrauterine device.
• Polycystic ovary syndrome.  In years past ovarian cancer used to be call  the silent killer but it’s really not completely silent, at least in some patients.  You shouldn’t ignore your symptoms!

“Influenza (flu) is a potentially serious disease that can lead to hospitalization and sometimes even death. Everyone 6 months and older in the United States, with rare exception, should get a flu vaccine every season. Flu vaccination has been shown to have many benefits including reducing the risk of flu illnesses, hospitalizations and even the risk of flu-related death. All flu vaccines in the United States will be trivalent (three component) vaccines beginning with the 2024-2025 season. For people 65 years and older, there are three flu vaccines that are preferentially recommended.

Influenza (flu) is a potentially serious disease that can lead to hospitalization and sometimes even death. Every flu season is different, and flu can affect people differently, but during typical flu seasons, millions of people get flu, hundreds of thousands of people are hospitalized and thousands to tens of thousands of people die from flu-related causes. Flu can mean a few days of feeling bad and missing work, school, or family events, or it can result in more serious illness.  The flu vaccine can prevent this from happening.”

Center for Disease Control and Prevention – CDC (Key Facts About Seasonal Flu Vaccine | Influenza (Flu) | CDC)

“New cases

• Approximately every three minutes, someone in the United States is diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma, or myeloma.
• An estimated combined total of 187,740 people in the U.S. were expected to be diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma in 2024.
• New cases of leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma were expected to account for 9.4 percent of the estimated 2,001,140 new cancer cases that would be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2024.”

Blood Cancer United (Blood cancer facts and statistics | Blood Cancer United)

Today’s topics will be covering on leukemia and lymphoma than what is the difference between them actually.  It will also include the factors proning you to these cancers, the tests that the M.D. might do and the different treatments for all 3 cancers Leukemia, Lymphoma and Myeloma (discussed in Part II).

Leukemia

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society states leukemia begins in a cell in the bone marrow and in the blood.  Remember the bone marrow creates our cells releasing them into the blood stream.   The cell undergoes a change and becomes a type of leukemia cell. Once the marrow cell undergoes a leukemic change, the leukemia cells may grow and survive better than normal cells. Over time, the leukemia cells crowd out or suppress the development of normal cells. The rate at which leukemia progresses and how the cells replace the normal blood and marrow cells are different with each type of leukemia.

After diagnosis and treatment, many people with leukemia live many good, quality years.

Leukemia is a cancer of the early blood-forming cells, meaning just coming formed from the bone marrow. Most often, leukemia is a cancer of the white blood cells, but some leukemia (s) start in other blood cell types or effect the count of other cells in our bloodstream. Leukemia is often described as being either acute (fast growing) or chronic (slow growing). Different types of leukemia have different treatment options and outlooks.

The National Cancer Institute also says leukemia is a broad term for cancers of the blood cells. The type of leukemia depends on the type of blood cell that becomes cancer and whether it grows quickly or slowly. Leukemia occurs most often in adults older than 55, but it is also the most common cancer in children younger than 15.

Leukemia can affect red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.

In a healthy child, the bone marrow makes blood stem cells (immature cells) that become mature blood cells over time. A blood stem cell may become a myeloid stem cell or a lymphoid stem cell.

A myeloid stem cell becomes one of three types of mature blood cells:

A lymphoid stem cell becomes a lymphoblast cell and then one of three types of lymphocytes (white blood cells):

The major types of leukemia are:

• Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). This is the most common type of leukemia in young children. ALL can also occur in adults.
• Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). AML is a common type of leukemia. It occurs in children and adults. AML is the most common type of acute leukemia in adults.
• Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). With CLL, the most common chronic adult leukemia, you may feel well for years without needing treatment.
• Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). This type of leukemia mainly affects adults. A person with CML may have few or no symptoms for months or years before entering a phase in which the leukemia cells grow more quickly.
• Other types. Other, rarer types of leukemia exist, including hairy cell leukemia, myelodysplastic syndromes and myeloproliferative disorders.

Statistics by the American Cancer Society:  Leukemia is the most common type of cancer in children and teens, accounting for 1 out of 3 cancers.   Most childhood leukemias are ALL Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia.  Most of the remaining cases for childhood are AML Acute Myeloid Leukemia.  Chronic Leukemia is rare in children.   However, because other types of leukemia become more common with age, most leukemia is found in among adults.

Decades of research have led to vastly improved outcomes for children diagnosed with ALL.

Lymphoma

Lymphoma starts in the immune system and affects the lymph nodes and lymphocytes, which are a type of white blood cell. There are two main types of lymphocyte, B cells and T cells.  Whereas Leukemia starts in the bone marrow affecting the white blood cells.  Doctors categorize leukemia based on which type of white blood— lymphocytes or myeloid cells — and whether the illness is developing very quickly (acute disease) or slowly over time (chronic disease).

Cancer can affect any part of the body, including the blood. Leukemia and lymphoma are both forms of blood cancer. The main difference is that leukemia affects the blood and bone marrow, while lymphomas tend to affect the lymph nodes.  BUT remember leukemia can go into the lymph nodes since its in the blood stream the cancer cells and can effect the lymph nodes.  BOTH effect white blood cells. Myeloma is similar in that it effects plasma a white blood cell.

The origin of where Myeloma, Leukemia or Lymphoma.  Lets look at all 3 All start in the Bone Marrow but the effect is similar in general but the type with the stage of cancer the individual has is a major factor of ending results.

All 3 types of cancers this article in Part I to Part II are bad cancer cells that derive in all in the bone marrow and they all effect some type of White Blood Cell (WBC).  All White Blood Cells are to fight infection and prevent it.  

Lymphoma is cancer that begins in infection-fighting cells of the immune system, called lymphocytes. Leukocytes are WBCs also that are affected in this cancer like Myeloma.  In Lymphoma the leukocytes become an abnormal amount (of WBCs) in the body.  Lymphocytes are a form of small leukocyte (white blood cell) with a single round nucleus (remember this is the brain for the cell), occurring especially in the lymphatic system.  Abnormal lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell that fights infection, become lymphoma cells, which multiply and collect in your lymph nodes. Over time, these cancerous cells impair your immune system. Lymphomas are divided into two categories: Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (this is another topic in itself).  These cells are in the lymph nodes, spleen, thymus, bone marrow, and other parts of the body.

Leukemia is a cancer of the body’s blood-forming tissues, including the bone marrow and the lymphatic system.  In Leukemia many of the white blood cells produced in the bone marrow do not mature normally. These abnormal cells, called leukemic cells, are unable to fight infection the way healthy white cells can. As they grow in number, the leukemic cells also interfere with the production of other blood cells. Obviously the WBCs start in the bone marrow just like every cell does.

Myeloma

• Myeloma, also called multiple myeloma, is a cancer of the plasma cells.
• Plasma cells are white blood cells that make antibodies that protect us from infection.
• Scientists don’t understand why some people get myeloma.

Myeloma effects the normal plasma cells originating in the bone marrow and are an important part of the immune system.  Lymphocytes (lymph cells) are one of the main types of white blood cells in the immune system and include T cells and B cells. Lymphocytes are in many areas of the body, such as lymph nodes, the bone marrow, the intestines, and the bloodstream.  These are the cells involved in this cancer being the problem.

Myeloma, also called multiple myeloma, is a cancer of the plasma cells. Plasma cells are white blood cells that make antibodies that protect us from infection. In myeloma, the cells grow too much, crowding out normal cells in the bone marrow that make red blood cells, platelets, and other white blood cells.

• Multiple myeloma, the most common type of plasma cell tumor, develops in the bone marrow and can spread throughout the body.
• Solitary plasmacytoma is a single plasma cell tumor that develops in one part of the body, often in a bone.
• Extramedullary plasmacytoma is a plasma cell tumor that develops outside of the bones in soft tissue, such as the lung or throat.

Scientists don’t understand why some people get myeloma and others don’t. Age is the most significant risk factor for developing myeloma. People younger than 45 years old rarely develop the disease. Men are more likely than women to develop myeloma, and myeloma is more than twice as common among Black people as among White people. In rare cases, exposure to x-rays or other kinds of ionizing radiation may be a risk factor for developing myeloma. Being overweight and having obesity are linked with a higher risk of getting multiple myeloma.

Factors that may increase your risk of developing some types of any 3 cancers include:

• Previous cancer treatment. People who’ve had certain types of chemotherapy and radiation therapy for other cancers have an increased risk of developing certain types of leukemia.
• Genetic disorders. Genetic abnormalities seem to play a role in the development of leukemia. Certain genetic disorders, such as Down syndrome, are associated with an increased risk of leukemia.
• Exposure to certain chemicals. Exposure to certain chemicals, such as benzene — which is found in gasoline and is used by the chemical industry — is linked to an increased risk of some kinds of leukemia.
• Smoking. Smoking cigarettes increases the risk of acute myelogenous leukemia.
• Family history of leukemia. If members of your family have been diagnosed with leukemia, your risk of the disease may be increased.

However, most people with known risk factors don’t get leukemia. And many people with leukemia have none of these risk factors.

Myeloma, Leukemia or Lymphoma diagnosing and treatments:

Doctors may find in a routine blood test, before symptoms begin. If this happens, or if you have signs or symptoms that suggest any 3 of the cancers, you may undergo the following diagnostic exams:

• Physical exam. Your doctor will look for physical signs of Myeloma or Leukemia or Lymphoma, such as pale skin from anemia, swelling of your lymph nodes, and enlargement of your liver and spleen.
• Blood tests. By looking at a sample of your blood, your doctor can determine if you have abnormal levels of red or white blood cells or platelets — which may suggest leukemia.
• Bone marrow test. Your doctor may recommend a procedure to remove a sample of bone marrow from your hipbone. The bone marrow is removed using a long, thin needle. The sample is sent to a laboratory to look for leukemia cells. Specialized tests of your cancer cells that may reveal certain characteristics that are used to determine your treatment options.

Treatment

Treatment for your Myeloma, Leukemia or Lymphoma depends on many factors. Your doctor determines your treatment options based on your age and overall health, the type of cancer of the 3 you have, and whether it has spread to other parts of your body, including the central nervous system.

Common treatments used to fight these 3 blood cancers include:

• Chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is the major form of treatment for all 3. This drug treatment uses chemicals to kill cancer cells.Depending on the type of cancer you have, you may receive a single drug or a combination of drugs. These drugs may come in a pill form, or they may be injected directly into a vein.
• Biological therapy. Biological therapy works by using treatments that help your immune system recognize and attack cancer cells.
• Targeted therapy. Targeted therapy uses drugs that attack specific vulnerabilities within your cancer cells.For example, the drug imatinib (Gleevec) stops the action of a protein within the leukemia cells of people with chronic myelogenous leukemia. This can help control the disease.
• Radiation therapy. Radiation therapy uses X-rays or other high-energy beams to damage cancer cells and stop their growth. During radiation therapy, you lie on a table while a large machine moves around you, directing the radiation to precise points on your body.You may receive radiation in one specific area of your body where there is a collection of cancer cells, or you may receive radiation over your whole body. Radiation therapy may be used to prepare for a stem cell transplant.
• Stem cell transplant. A stem cell transplant is a procedure to replace your diseased bone marrow with healthy bone marrow.Before a stem cell transplant, you receive high doses of chemotherapy or radiation therapy to destroy your diseased bone marrow. Then you receive an infusion of blood-forming stem cells that help to rebuild your bone marrow.You may receive stem cells from a donor, or in some cases you may be able to use your own stem cells. A stem cell transplant is very similar to a bone marrow transplant.

So these 3 cancers are similar in many ways with the ending results but where they effect initially or their primary area effected might be slightly different, see above. 

Last updated 9/1/2025

“The distribution of blood cancer cases reveals patterns across age, sex, and race. The risk for most blood cancers increases as people get older, though some types are more prevalent in younger populations. Leukemia is the most common cancer in children, accounting for 28% of all childhood cancers, with the risk for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) highest in those under five.

Blood cancers are statistically more common in men than in women. For example, 2021 estimates for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) showed an incidence rate of 5.2 per 100,000 for males compared to 3.5 per 100,000 for females.

There are also notable variations among racial and ethnic groups. Multiple myeloma is more than twice as common in African Americans as it is in White Americans. In contrast, chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is more frequently diagnosed in North America and Europe than in Asia. Hispanic children and adolescents have higher incidence rates of leukemia compared to other groups in the U.S.”

BiologyInsights.com  (Blood Cancer Statistics by Type, Demographics & Survival – Biology Insights)

Lets just start with our type of cells in the body first that would help us better understand these names in their meaning and understand what gets effected immediately when types of cells are not in normal levels.

We have red blood cells (erythrocytes) in our blood stream and abbreviated RBCs.  Their substance in them are rich in hemoglobin, an iron-containing bio-molecule.  They are also known as erythrocytes.  They also are the food carrier of oxygen (02) carried in our body from tissue to tissue.  This is done via the heart by its pumping action.  RBCs are sent throughout the bloodstream from our heart.  In time sent back to the heart when all the 02 is used up by the tissues it reached.  Then sent to the lungs from the right side of the heart to get more 02 rich supply in the cell.  The lungs take from the cell the carbon dioxide (a toxin from the cell) that we release via exhaling from the lungs.  The cell goes to the left side of the heart pumping the RBCs back out in the blood stream to release this 02 (energy)to our tissues to stay alive repeating this cycle over and over again. till that RBC dies off normally.  Without 02 and other nutrients to our tissues this means cellular starvation=death.

We have white blood cells.  White blood cells (also called leukocytes for WBCs in general and abbreviated as WBCs) are the cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body, they fight infection.

White blood cells (leukocytes) are the cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign invaders but their are types of WBCs. All white blood cells are produced and derived from multipotent cells in the bone marrow known as hematopoietic stem cells. Leukocytes are found throughout the body, including the blood and lymphatic system (lymph nodes).

Types of white blood cells

• Monocytes. They have a longer lifespan than many white blood cells and help to break down bacteria.

• Lymphocytes. They create antibodies to defend against bacteria, viruses, and other potentially harmful invaders.

• Neutrophils. They kill and digest bacteria and fungi. They are the most numerous type of white blood cell and your first line of defense when infection strikes.

• Basophils. These small cells appear to sound an alarm when infectious agents invade your blood. They secrete chemicals such as histamine, a marker of allergic disease, that help control the body’s immune response.

• Eosinophils. They attack and kill parasites, destroy cancer cells, and help with allergic responses.

Both red blood and white blood cells have what is called a nucleus inside them meaning it stores the cell’s hereditary material, or DNA, and it coordinates the cell’s activities, which include growth, intermediary metabolism, protein synthesis, and reproduction (cell division).  In addition, cancer cells often have an abnormal shape, both of the cell, and of the nucleus (the “brain” of the cell.) The nucleus appears both larger and darker than normal cells. The reason for the darkness is that the nucleus of cancer cells contains excess DNA.

Platelet cells (also called thrombocytes are a component of blood whose function (along with the coagulation factors) is to react to bleeding from blood vessel injury by clumping, thereby initiating a blood clot.  The main function of platelets is to contribute to hemostasis: the process of stopping bleeding at the site in the body anywhere.  Platelets are considered “not a true cell” because of its make up and doesn’t have a nucleus in it like RBCs or WBCs.

Where do all our cells derive from?  The bone marrow, in adult humans bone marrow is primarily located in the ribs, vertebrae, sternum, and bones of the pelvis. On average, bone marrow constitutes 4% of the total body mass of humans.

In the bone marrow the formation of blood cellular components happens. All cellular blood components are derived from haematopoietic stem cells.  The formation of blood cellular components.

When these cells get affected with being increased or decreased in the bloodstream especially changing make up of the cell (Ex. cancer cell) then the person is at risk for problems that can occur if not resolved in the near future.

Multiple myeloma, lymphoma, and leukemia

These are all types of cancers that effect your WBCs and immunity system. Doctors often call them blood cancers.  The cells that are effected are WBC’s and after the cancer cells start intially effecting WBC’s affects the other cells.

­While these three types of cancers are alike in some ways (all three deals with intially affecting WBCs and our immune system) but they affect different parts of your body. Some are harder to treat than others.

Multiple myeloma hits your plasma cells. Multiple myeloma is a cancer that forms in a type of white blood cell called a plasma cell.  These white blood cells make antibodies to fight disease. Myeloma cancer cells take over, and your body can’t fight infections like they did when your good WBCs where in normal level.  Remember all cancer cells keep replicating in the bone marrow (Where our cells are made from normally).

They take over eliminating the plasma normal cells allowing cancer cells to take over. In addition, cancer cells often have an abnormal shape, both of the cell, and of the nucleus (the “brain” of the cell.). The nucleus appears both larger and darker than normal cells nucleus (RBCs and WBCs). The reason for the darkness is that the nucleus of cancer cells contains excess DNA.

The cancer cells make abnormal antibodies that settle in your blood not allowing the regular function of regular plasma cells being done (fighting infection off).  Instead cancer cells do the opposite.  They can eat away at bone or damage your kidneys in this disease.

These 3 main types of blood cancers start with effecting the WBC’s first but effect all the types of cells in time!

“Blood cancer endangers an essential life force: your blood cells. These cells give you energy, help you fight infection, and keep you from bleeding too much. When faulty DNA causes your blood cells to become cancerous, the cancer puts all these important functions at risk. Fortunately, there are many effective and safe ways to treat blood cancer.

Blood cancer affects how your body produces all types of blood cells and how well those cells work. Most blood cancers start in your bone marrow; this is where most of your cells are produced and let into the bloodstream and mature into adult size cells. This is the soft, sponge-like material in the center of your bones. Your bone marrow makes stem cells that mature and become one of the following:  Red blood cells, which carry oxygen throughout your body, White blood cells, which fight infection, Platelets, which control bleeding.

Blood cancer happens when something disrupts how your body makes blood cells. The cancer cells can’t do the jobs normal blood cells do. Instead, the abnormal blood cells multiply unchecked and overwhelm the normal ones.

Like any type of cancer, blood cancer is a serious diagnosis. But the good news is that more and more people are surviving blood cancer.”

Cleveland Clinic (Blood Cancer: Types, Symptoms & Treatment)

The six most common cancers—breast, lung, prostate, colorectal, melanoma and bladder—are solid cancers that account for almost 1 million new cases a year.  In 2023, roughly 2.0 million people will be diagnosed with cancer in the United States. An estimated 297,790 women and 2,800 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer, which makes it the most common cancer diagnosis. Prostate cancer is the leading cancer diagnosis among men and the second most common diagnosis overall with 288,300 expected cases. Lung and bronchus cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosis with an estimated 238,340 new cases.

Cancers that are not considered solid cancers are often lumped together in the category of blood cancers being:

Leukemia, Lymphoma and Myeloma.

What are the functions of these different cells in the human body including the bone marrow and lymph fluids?

Blood and lymph are the two most important body fluids in the human body. Blood comprises plasma, white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets.

Lymph is a colorless fluid that circulates inside the lymphatic vessels.

The body fluids and circulation of these body fluids are described below in complete detail.

• Blood: Blood regulate the flow of oxygen and carbon dioxide in and out of the body-through red blood cells RBC’s, contains immune cells that fight infection-through the white blood cells WBC’s, and Platelets for clotting.  The blood delivers nutrients and hormones.
• Bone marrow: Red bone marrow produces new blood cells and platelets, which help regulate clotting. Yellow bone marrow produces and stores fats that help build bone and cartilage.
• Lymph: Lymph fluids carry immune cells throughout the body, deliver bacteria to lymph nodes to be filtered out of the circulatory system, and return excess proteins to the blood supply.

The three main types of blood cancers are:

Multiple myeloma: This cancer develops in the bone marrow and affects plasma cells, which produce antibodies that attack infections and diseases. When plasma cells become cancerous, they may accumulate in the marrow and damage or weaken bone and cause pain. Cancerous plasma cells also produce faulty antibodies, which make it hard for the body to fight infections. multiple myeloma may be treated with targeted therapy, radiation therapy, chemotherapy and/or a stem cell transplant.

Leukemia: This cancer of the blood cells usually starts in bone marrow and travels through the bloodstream. In leukemia, the bone marrow produces mutated cells and spreads them into the blood, where they grow and crowd out healthy blood cells. Leukemia comes in many forms, but the key diagnosis is determined by whether the disease is acute or chronic. Acute leukemias are fast-growing and may require aggressive treatments.

Lymphomas: These diseases affect the cells in the lymphatic system. In lymphomas, immune cells called lymphocytes grow out of control and collect in lymph nodes, the spleen, in other lymph tissues or in neighboring organs. There are dozens of types of lymphoma, but the disease is largely categorized as Hodgkin lymphoma or non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Immunotherapy may be used to treat some cases of Hodgkin lymphoma. Other lymphoma treatments include chemotherapy and surgery to remove affected lymph nodes.

“Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited red blood cell disorder. Sickle cells are rigid and crescent-shaped instead of flexible and round like healthy red blood cells. The abnormal sickle shape causes them to get stuck in small blood vessels, clogging blood flow and interfering with oxygen delivery.

Sickle cells tend to die early, resulting in a shortage of red blood cells. The disease can cause pain and other health issues, including sickle cell anemia.

Sickle cell disease is the most common inherited blood disorder the United States, affecting around 100,000 people.”

New York Presbyterian (Sickle Cell Disease (SCD): Symptoms & Causes | NewYork-Presbyterian)