Process Essay: Wayward Cells (TCW, C14)

College Writer Process Essay Example:  Wayward Cells, TCW, C14, p. 217

Outline

Video for "Wayward Cells," page 217: "Vaccine to Prevent Cancer"V

Reading

Imagine a room containing a large group of people all working hand toward the same goal. Each person knows his or her job, does it carefully, and cooperates with other group members. Together, they function smoothly-like a well-oiled machine. Then something goes wrong. One guy suddenly drops his task, steps into another person`s workstation, grabs the material that she's working with, and begins something very different- he uses the material to make little reproductions of himself, thousands of them. These look-alikes imitate him—grabbing material and making reproductions of themselves. Soon the bunch gets so big that they spill into other people's workstations, getting in their way and interrupting their work. As the number of look-alikes grows. the work group‘s activity slows, sputters, and finally stops.

A human body is like this room, and the body's cells are like these workers. lf the body is healthy, each cell has a necessary job and does it correctly. For example, right now red blood cells are running throughout your body carrying oxygen to each body part. Other cells are digesting that steak sandwich that you had for lunch, and others are patching up that cut on your left hand. Each cell knows what to do because its genetic code-or DNA-tells it what to do. When a cell begins to function abnormally, it can initiate a process that results in cancer.

The problem starts when one cell "forgets what” it should do. Scientists call this "undifferentiating"-meaning that the cell loses its identity within the body (Pierce 75) Just like the guy in the group who decided to do his own thing, the cell forgets its job. Why this happens is somewhat unclear.

The problem could be caused by a defect in the cell’s DNA code or by something in the environment, such as cigarette smoke or asbestos (German 21). Causes from inside the body are called genetic, whereas causes from outside the body are called carcinogens, meaning "any substance that causes cancer" (Neufeldt and Sparks 90]. In either case. An undifferentiated cell can disrupt the function of healthy cells in two ways: by not doing its job as specified in its DNA and by not reproducing at the rate noted in its DNA.

Most healthy cells reproduce rather quickly, but their reproduction rate is controlled. For example. your blood cells completely die off and replace themselves within a matter of weeks, but existing cells make only as many new cells as the body needs. The DNA codes in healthy cells tell them how many new cells to produce. However, cancer cells don‘t have this control, so they reproduce quickly with no stopping point, a characteristic called 'autonomy" (Braun 3). What`s more, all their ‘offspring`° have the same qualities as their messed-up parent, and the resulting overpopulation produces growths called tumors. 

Tumor cells can hurt the body in a number of ways. First, a tumor can grow so big that it takes up space needed by other organs. Second, some cells may detach from the original tumor and spread throughout the body, creating new tumors elsewhere. This happens with lymphatic cancer—a cancer that‘s hard to control because it spreads so quickly A third way that tumor cells can hurt the body is by doing work not called for in their DNA. For example, a gland cell's DNA code may tell the cell to produce a necessary hormone in the endocrine system. However, if cancer damages or distorts that code, sick cells may produce more of the hormone than the body can use—or even tolerate ( Braun 4). Cancer cells seem to have minds of their own, and this is why cancer is such a serious disease. 

Fortunately, there is hope. Scientific research is already helping doctors do amazing things for people suffering with cancer. One treatment that has been used for some time is chemotherapy, or the use of chemicals to kill off all fast-growing cells, including cancer cells. (Unfortunately. chemotherapy can’t distinguish between healthy and unhealthy cells. so it may cause negative side effects such as damaging fast-growing hair follicles, resulting in hair loss.) Another common treatment is radiation, or the use of light rays to kill cancer cells. One of the newest and most promising treatments is gene therapy-an effort to identify and treat chromosomes that carry a "wrong code" in their DNA. A treatment like gene therapy is promising because it treats the cause of cancer, not just the effect. Year by year, research is helping doctors better understand what cancer is and how to treat it. 

Much of life involves dealing with problems like wayward workers, broken machines, or dysfunctional organizations. Dealing with wayward cells is just another problem. While the problem is painful and deadly, there is hope. Medical specialists and other scientists are making progress, and some day they will help us win our battle against wayward cells. 

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Notes:

“Wayward Cells” by Kerri Mertz. The essay’s opening analogy is a brief example of process writing that compares human workers to a body’s cells. Just as humans depend upon the cooperation of fellow workers, the body depends on each of its cells to work together to maintain overall health. As the essay explains, when one cell stops doing its job, the results can be disastrous. The author goes through the different steps in the onset of cancer, explaining what happens to the cells, why it happens, and what the results are. Despite the devastation caused by “wayward cells,” the author’s essay ends on an optimistic note, explaining that “Year by year, research is helping doctors better understand what cancer is and how to treat it.” Do your students share the author’s optimism about a cure for cancer? The essay does a good job describing the ability of cancer cells, which have “minds of their own,” to mutate and kill.