Cancer: What I Knew as a Secondary School Kid - Essay Sample

Introduction

When I was young pursuing my secondary school education, during one of the biology lessons, our teacher mentioned the term cancer. It was not a strange name to most of us as we had heard people dying of cancer. Although the word was not new to me, I did not know what cancer was. From my hood, I could listen to the adults talk about cancer with great fear. So I knew that it was a deadly disease. I did not know anything about how it occurs, what it affects, and how it kills. My biology teacher that day looked happy as a king, he had great joy, and he mentioned about how cancer would become a problem in the near future. Down the line and exactly ten years, cancer has been a disaster in many parts of the world. Eager to know what cancer was, I decided to ask my teacher. He said, "Cancer is a killer." The class was as silent as the grave. People baffled and getting keen ready to hear more.

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The teacher went on to explain more. The teacher seemed to know much about this disease, and to me, he was a shining star that was giving me light about the dreaded disease of cancer. He said that cancer is a hungry monster roaming around looking for blood to consume. At that time, cancer was not a common disease. Our teacher predicted that cancer would cause too much damage to the lives of people, the economy as well as the social life of the people who fall victim. When I relate to the current situation about what the teacher told us that day, I find a lot of truth from what he said. Ten years later, many people have been consumed by cancer. It has also carried away vast chunks of money from the victims as they sought for management.

It was until the previous year that I came to know what the teacher told us about the disease when one of my friends became a victim. It was a traumatizing experience that affected me as the truth of the illness was unfolding using one of my closest friends. The monster was so aggressive that it was spreading in his body like wildfire. My friend lost weight drastically, leaving him as thin as a rake. It got aggressive by the day, and his family had no option but to take him to a hospital for medical attention. My friend was admitted to the male medical ward for management.

On arrival at the hospital, he was received by a team of medics. With his condition, the team got to work they got busy up and down as bees to help save the life of the young man. On looking at him, a sharp pain cut through my heart, leaving me bleeding. With tears in my eyes and every other person who had accompanied him, we got a grave silence. Questions were running through our minds making our hearts to turn into throbbing engines. His mother cried her heart out. Her eyes had turned into red berries. My friend was in great pain, which I recall our teacher mentioning. However, the good thing was that my friend would respond to treatment. This was lighting our world. Hope was slowly coming back.

One day when I visited him in the hospital, I found him doing fine. He was jumpy and active. He was full of hope that his life was saved. I was happy as well after talking and spending some time together. I went back home. While seated outside our house, a thought crossed over my mind. I could try to get statistics of the people who had survived cancer and those who were perishing. The statistics were shocking as the saying goes, numbers don't lie. I became anxious. I thought so much about it, and I could tell that I was to lose my friend. I felt pain, but I had to act strong. However, I know that his condition was worsening, although he seemed to be improving. Perhaps, the improvement was due to medications that he was put on to try and fight a fierce monster. I could tell that my friend would not make it following the studies I was doing about the condition.

Every time I could visit him, I could tell that he was getting better. I had a secret that I would never break to him. This secret, however, was consuming me as it had some truth according to the statistics. A few weeks passed, and the condition started to worsen. I could see what I was thinking about coming true. It was painful seeing my friend go through pain which I knew too well that neither his family member nor I would help. All we could give was prayers hoping that they would help.

One day when we had gone to see him together with his family members, we could tell that all was not going well. His mother got confused and broke into tears. Nurses were taking care of him and could inform us that he was deteriorating. Yes, from our observations, we could tell he was getting worse. His mother requested to know what would eventually happen and the doctors told her that the disease had already eaten up several organs that are vital and that we would eventually lose him. With great pain, what I had foreseen was ultimately confirmed by the doctors. The doctors explained to us how cancer has caused problems in the world, describing it as a disaster. At this point, I could tell that this disease had already caused untold suffering to many people. The doctors' words were confirming what the teacher once told us.

Finally, we lost my friend, and life was not easy. Although I had already started coming into terms with this loss, I never stopped reading more about it. It has made people suffer the pain of losing their loved ones. This monster does not know how to choose. It hunts and consumes all types of people, children, youths, and politicians. In the near future, however, this disease will not have the power of hunting and killing people. A solution will be found that will help tame its hunger and impair its ability to hunting. It might not be fully killed, but I hope that it will be contained.