What Is Blood Cancer?
Blood cancer is an uncontrolled increase in the number of blood cells.1 To better understand blood cancer, you may need to know a bit more about blood, cancer, and/or leukemia.
All blood cells are formed in the bone marrow from stem cells. A stem cell is the earliest stage of every blood cell. If a patient has blood cancer, the cancerous blood cells are either overproduced or simply live longer than normal. The stem cells may produce abnormal cells that do not function properly. For example, if white blood cells are affected, they will not be able to help your body fight infection.4
If untreated, the cancerous blood cells of the bone marrow invade the blood and eventually other organs, such as the lymph nodes, liver, and spleen. The body will be unable to produce the proper working blood cells it needs to carry oxygen, fight infection, or form clots. These conditions are called leukemias. The type of white blood cell involved and whether or not it matures determines the type of blood cancer you have.4