Normal, healthy, persons do not have cancer cells in their body. That includes the general population at large.
The internet is recently flooded with a medical claim (allegedly from Johns Hopkins, which I doubt) that is scaring the public. Circulating in the email around the world is the statement that says “normally, we all have dormant cancer cells in our body.†Implied is the assertion that all healthy people are walking around with a time bomb within them, ready to explode.
This senseless, insensitive, and unkind fabrication is obviously the work of someone with an ignorant, or confused, if not twisted, mind.
The healthy person does not carry any cancer cell in their body, period. If every tissue in the body of a normal person is biopsied, or if a person who dies of any non-cancerous disease, like heart attack or stroke, or trauma, is autopsied from head to foot, no cancer cells will be found. The only exception to this is if the person had an undiagnosed cancer, which is incidentally found on autopsy, a finding that excludes this person from being healthy in the first place.
If that ridiculous claim were true, then each person would be carrying around (from birth to death) “dormant†cancer cells in his/her brain, head and neck, breast, lungs, liver, pancreas, kidneys, intestines, prostate, and other organs in the body.
Our creator was more intelligent and more sensible not to make that mistake of intentionally designing the human body with such a grotesque built-in defect in it. Even humans don’t do that when they design or build anything. God blessed us with a body that is a powerful generator, a great computer, with most efficient organs, a body amazingly functional and full of dexterity. The imperfections among us are caused by factors that are of our own (human) doings, even those congenital defects in some babies, etc., or illnesses we get due to our own recklessness and unhealthy lifestyle.
Therefore, I am saying that all healthy individuals, from birth to adulthood to their death, do NOT normally carry, or have, any cancer cells in their body, unless they develop a malignancy. If they abuse themselves and subject their body to carcinogens, substances or toxins that cause cancers, then the tissues of the organs involved (like the lungs among smokers, the esophagus or food pipe, and the liver, among alcoholics) could be so chronically irritated and damaged by the toxic agent for the cells of those tissues to change into cancer cells.
Normal Cells
The normal cells our body came with when we were born have a pre-determined growth pattern and final adult size, from infancy to adulthood. As the cells, tissues and organs attain their normal number and size, the cell growth ceases at the right time. That is why our organs, our body as a whole, have the average sizes and shapes, according to our genetic make-up. There is no run-away, uncontrolled, growth in cases of normal cells. Muscle cells are greater in mass and stronger among those who exercise daily, especially among body builders. Fat cells increase in number and size when we overeat and become overweight. But even these “growths†are still within the expected “norm.â€
From time to time, as our activities and lifestyle “damage†our cells as a result of the wear and tear in our body, our older cells (including blood cells) die and are replaced by new cells efficiently and automatically. An example of this is our dead skin, which flakes off, to be replaced instantly by new skin. Worn out or dead cells in a normal body are constantly replaced with new ones almost every day. But all this happens in an organized, systematic, orderly, and “disciplined†process. Our body system’s self-protective and auto-control mechanisms are always in control maintaining our health. If we do something that will adversely alter this natural internal balance and harmony, then disease sets in.
Cancer Cells are Something Else
Cancer cells are different. They grow and divide with blatant disregard for the body’s needs and limitations. They do not stop reproducing. There is random multiplication and replication that it out of bounds, without order and direction. These cells become very aggressive, attacking tissues and organs nearby, as in malignant tumors, where in many cases even spread to, and destroy, distant organs (like in cancer of the lungs with metastases to the brains, bones, adrenals, etc).
Unless cancer cells are treated effectively to induce cure or remission when they first form, they are unstoppable in their growth and aggressiveness. This behavior and characteristic of cancer cells alone are a self-evident proof that normal healthy bodies do not have what is claimed as “dormant cancer cells.†If any cancer cell forms in a person’s body, it will continue to grow and multiply unceasingly and be clinically obvious in a matter of weeks or months in almost all cases.
Oncogenes
Normal (non-cancerous) cells have a regulated, well-controlled, cell division and growth, thanks to the genes that produce proteins that provide such auto-regulation and control. These are the proto-oncogenes and tumor-suppressor genes, which regulate the cell cycle and keep the cells in good control. Tumor-suppressor genes produce proteins that prevent the uncontrolled cell growth and abnormal cell division.
When the cells are constantly exposed to cancer-causing agents (either toxic substances, chemicals in food or drinks, excess sunlight, radiation, etc.), the body produces an abnormal proteins called oncogenes which cause the cells to lose their ability to control their regulation. The non-regulated cells then go wild and divide abnormally fast, uncontrolled, transforming the cells into cancer cells that lose their original characteristics and functions (like cancerous lungs tissues turning into a solid mass, losing their air-cells and ability to oxygenate blood). The uncontrolled growth and replication of the cancer cells lead to large space-occupying masses in the body, crowding out other organs and pressing on vitals blood vessels and nerves. The most adverse outcome of this malignant process is the transformation of the cancerous organ into a useless hard mass of tissues and the loss of original function of the organ, as in cancer of the lungs, liver, kidney, brain, breast, prostate, etc.
Conclusion
Normal, healthy, persons do not have cancer cells in their body. That includes the general population at large. Only individuals with a cancerous disease have cancers cells in them. And you can email this medical fact to your friends.
Knowing how deadly cancers can be, it behooves all of us to live a healthy lifestyle, and to be knowledgeable and keenly aware that cancer is best prevented. And if it still occurs, in spite of our diligence and discipline, early diagnosis and treatment could result in a cure. A regular medical check-up is a prudent prophylactic health strategy in our fight against diseases, especially against cancer.
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