Reading Siddhartha Mukherjee's biography of cancer evoked buried memories of my experience with the disease.
Cancer is not a single or homogeneous malReading Siddhartha Mukherjee's biography of cancer evoked buried memories of my experience with the disease.
Cancer is not a single or homogeneous malady but a multiple or heterogeneous disease that shares a common fundamental characteristic; abnormal cell growth.
It seems that during my college years my body's usual self-commanding mechanism, in a distinct area, stopped working properly i.e. my typical cell cycle malfunctioned. Perhaps, the old cells, that my body no longer needed, did not die and grew uncontrollably. Cancer occurs when a copying error of a DNA takes place during cell division, like a typographical error, where the misprinted DNA influences a critical gene. Many cancers are caused by these random unfortunate copying errors but others are caused by environmental effects or inherited mutations. Whichever was the cause in my case the malignant cells incessantly multiplied, by division, to form my tumor.
Similar malignant tumors, leukemia, and lymphoma are all discussed in the The Emperor of All Maladies (2010) but the book focus is more on the history of the evolution and the significant discoveries of cancer treatment and about the notable medical doctors and scientists who were leading the way to better understand the disease and strived to find a cure for it. We also learn that it was not just the individuals who wore the white coats that are to be credited for the accomplishments in cancer research, treatment, and prevention, it's also the activists, philanthropists, and government officials who did their part in advocating the prevention of cancer and securing the funds necessary so we can come closer to finding a solution for this illness.
Even though the surgery to remove my malignant tumor was successful, cancer had spread, hence it required several weeks of therapy, which ended up turning into months that subsequently eliminated my drive and reduced my weight. Since I was even then interested in Darwinism, I remember thinking "natural selection wants me out".
Before my therapy started, I took all measures of fertility preservation. At the time I found it slightly embarrassing as my friends and family knew where I was going. I recall the nurse at the clinic with an expressionless face offering to bring me magazines and videos which I immediately and proudly declined.
Luckily, the efforts of my team of doctors, family, and friends paid off and man-made group selection beat natural selection!
Mukherjee wrote a great book with an enthralling narrative. He smoothly intertwines science, history, and biographical accounts with personal stories as he did with his subsequent book The Gene (2016). The Emperor of All Maladies is over 600 pages but it's worth the effort.
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