Cancer Story
Part One:
I am a retnioblast, a type of cell that divides and eventually fills the retina. My host Ethan was in the womb; I was very excited because he was about to reach the time where I would turn into a mature retinal cell and stop dividing. Although I never turned into a mature cell and the other cells and I kept dividing. Eventually when Ethan was born, he had never developed retinal cells and a genetic mutation caused him to get retinoblastoma; a cancer on the retina of the eye. I’m not quite sure how Ethan attracted this tumor, but what I do know is one of his parents carried the mutated gene.
When Ethan was a baby, his parents noticed that he eyes would always appear to be looking in different directions, his eyes were always red and the would get really puffy and swell. I was really worried for Ethan, I never wanted this to happen. When a person looked into Ethan’s eyes they could see a big white spot, which was the build up of all the retnioblasts and I.
From when Ethan was just small, he had a very hard time seeing, his eyes are always big and red. He has missed lots of his early years because of me. After Ethan was diagnosed, the RB cells started to divide again. It spread through out the eye and blocked the channels that allow fluids to flow through Ethan’s eye causing him to get Glaucoma. At one point the cells started to divide up Ethan’s optic nerve, but eventually stopped before it could hit his brain. Sometimes I feel really hot, it’s like a laser is being pointed at me (Photocoagulation Therapy), but other times I feel really cold; like I’m going to freeze (Cryotherapy). All I know is that I have been living inside Ethan’s right eye for about a year and a half and I’m not sure when I’m going to leave.
Part Two:
- What Questions did you research in order to create your cancer story?
I researched about the cancer and the different effects it has on the body, about the different treatments the doctors use to get rid of the cancer and about the risks it can cause without being treated.
- What new or familiar digital tools did you try to use as you worked though this project?
I most used websites on the internet such as:
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/retinoblastoma/about/what-is-retinoblastoma.html
- What was the prosses you used to investigate the topic?
I thought about lots of questions that could be useful to this project (how is their lives affected by this cancer etc.)
- How did you verify and cite the information you found?
I looked a certain reliable website and used a citation site to cite it.
- How did the process of completing thing challenge go? What could you have done better?
I enjoyed writing the story as it was interesting to learn about something I did not know of. Although I feel I could have extending the part about the cells host’s story. Also I could have improved on the effects this cancer has on the body, although this cancer is very rare and it was quite hard to finds lots of information. Also this cancer is very easily cured, if treated right away so it was difficult to find long term effects (I wrote the story in the worst possible outcome: glaucoma, cancer spreading).
Citations: Website
URL – https://www.cancer.org/cancer/retinoblastoma/about/what-is-retinoblastoma.html
Website Title – American Cancer Society
Article Title – What Is Retinoblastoma? | Retinoblastoma Information
Date Accessed – May 23, 2017
Citations: Photo
(n.d.). Retrieved from https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/art/large/retinoblastoma-eye.jpeg
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://streaming.cineca.it/sestri/courses/cancgen/img/Bernards/image005_b.gif