Cancers of the Blood

Blood, as we know, carries oxygen to and from the lungs to the other parts of the body. It picks up wastes on its way back to the lungs.
Blood has different components: red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma. The red blood cells (rbc), platelets and some white blood cells (wbc) called monocytes, belong to the “myeloid” group. All other white blood cells belong to the “lymphoid” group.
The bone marrow is the place where the blood cells are mainly produced. The production of the different types of blood cells is a carefully controlled activity. When cancer affects the bone marrow, it interferes with the process that regulates cell production. White blood cells, of the Lymphoid or Myeloid variety are produced, but they do not mature into fully functioning, normal cells. These abnormal cells grow in numbers and crowd out the normal cells of the blood, and weaken the body’s defence mechanism.