Re: What is Hodgkins' disease?

Hi Sara,
Hodgkin’s disease is a form of cancer which affects the lymph nodes.
The lymph nodes are a kind of restaurant for your immune system. Inside 
the nodes are many immune cells looking for bacteria and viruses and they 
wait for the blood to act as a waiter and deliver the germs. Once the 
immune cells have digested and identified the germs they can activate 
other parts of the immune system to destroy the rest of the invading germs.
In Hodgkin’s disease one type of immune cell doesn’t develop properly and 
forms Reed-Sternberg cells ( RS cells for short ). These RS cells don’t 
work properly and they grow out of control forming a tumour. The doctor 
can identify the RS cells under a microscope and diagnose Hodgkin’s 
disease. Treatment for the disease is usually radiotherapy for early stage 
disease or radiotherapy and chemotherapy for later stage disease. The good 
news is that Hodgkin’s disease has a very good cure rate especially if it 
is caught at an early stage.
For young people who wish to learn more about the disease there isn’t very 
much easily understood material about. Most information is aimed at adults 
who work in
hospitals. Fortunately there are one or two sources aimed at young people, 
try these sites – http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Bistro/2776/main.html  the site also 
contains a links page which will be useful.  http://www.children-cancer.com/  this site contains links for sites 
dealing with childhood cancer, so there will be information written with 
young people in mind. http://www.choa.org/hemonc/default.shtml  this site lists hospitals 
specialising in childcare in the Atlanta area. They should be able to 
provide you with information about Hodgkin’s disease aimed at young people.
Hope this helps.
NIGE