1. ToBeInspired

    ToBeInspired Senior Member

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    Pertaining to Cancer

    Discussion in 'Research' started by ToBeInspired, Mar 6, 2017.

    In my story, the main motivation of my main character is to get the resources required to save her brother who has a type of brain cancer.

    I've researched it, but I have to admit I'm just not meant to be doctor. Perhaps someone here has some experience on the subject.

    The little brother, ideally would be anywhere from 15 - 17. If I make a few adjustments I could switch it over to 7 - 11. I need him to be either 18 or 12 at a certain point, but it is a bit flexible.

    I'm looking for a type of cancer that would be life threatening, would quickly get worse (reducing his estimated time left), and that possibly could spread to the spinal cord causing paralytic damage even if he survived. Also, it would need to be something that is hard to treat with our current level of technology. The whole premise is that the main character has an opportunity to access advanced medical research technology if successful. During acquisition, the little brother gets worse... pushing the main character towards a more motivated effort.

    Even if I decide to be vague, it's an answer to a lot of things, it's always better to have the information for myself. I've been researching a ton of stuff, hell more studying than I did while in school, but I'm just not adept at medical jargon.

    If anyone could point me in the right direction, it would be useful. Thank you.

    P.S. I understand it is a plot device, but in no way am I belittling the subject. My family has had a large number of deaths from cancer. I simply wanted to be able utilize some of those experiences in my story. And yes, I do want it to be brain cancer specifically; it fits the material of my book.
     
  2. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    So you're looking for a specific form of brain cancer? I'd say call a doctor... your GP would be a good place to start. Or you could just start emailing professors in the relevant field. You alma mater or any local university should have some form of medical department. Most of the professors I've cold contacted for random questions have been more than helpful (with a few notable exceptions, haha), especially if you are an alum. The directory at the university website should have a breakdown and contact information.
     
  3. Shadowfax

    Shadowfax Contributor Contributor

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    http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/brain-tumour-malignant/Pages/Introduction.aspx

    Note in particular the comment that "Most malignant [brain] tumours are secondary cancers, which means they started in another part of the body and spread to the brain." This means that spreading to the spinal column is quite plausible, because once a cancer has metastasized once, it's more likely to do it again. The problem, for your plot, is that I think you want the brain tumour to be the inciting incident, rather than the (say) lung cancer that preceded it. And, I'd suggest, a child this riddled with cancer had a really bad roll of the dice.
     
  4. LostThePlot

    LostThePlot Naysmith Contributor

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    You definitely don't want actual brain cancer. As Shadowfax said, it's really rare as a primary cancer, and perhaps more importantly, it's super hard to detect. No-one wants to point an x-ray at someone's head if they can avoid it, and brain cancers don't generate really obvious symptoms especially in a kid. If your child falls over a lot of exhibits "inappropriate social behavior" no-one goes right to brain tumor as the cause so these things often just sit there until they blow the side off your head. And in most cases that's not long. My cousin had a brain tumor and he had about a month from when they found it to when he died. So a brain tumor would work ok if your character was trying to persuade people that her brother has a tumor instead of ADHD, that'd be fine. But if it's a known condition then I wouldn't go for a direct brain tumor.

    Personally I would go with Leukaemia, which is bone marrow cancer, as the primary cancer. That's the one I picked when I wrote a book about a girl pretending to have cancer, and the reasons you should use it are the same as why my character did; because it's one of the most common cancers in kids, and under normal progression it won't cripple you and there's no invasive surgeries involved. This means that the kid can live at home, go to school and be treated as an outpatient which is really convenient. It can still move and jump to other organs, which gives you a 'surprise' brain tumor, but one that can potentially be found quickly. That sets you up with the doctors not being able to remove it or cure it and then your lead needs to swing into action to save him.

    It's the progression here that matters to you; you can start with the little brother with his shiny head at home but otherwise being a happy kid and build the relationship with the MC, then have him slowly get worse with these complications and jumping cancer masses and paraneoplastic syndrome (which you should look up if you want a nice 'thinigs got worse'). It would allow you to start the book with a sick but not dying kid then have the dying be your instigating incident.

    That would still leave you with a brain tumor as the immediate thing that'll kill the kid and needs to be solved right the hell now; that's hard to treat and the doctors might legitimately say that the tumor is too big to operate on or it's in a place that means they'd give him brain damage removing it. Your MC goes and obtains better medical imaging, and proves the size of the tumor and where it is and exactly how to remove it safely. And at the end of the book that'd leave you with an alive little brother, who isn't dying anymore, but he's still got a ways to go to be really better, which is true to how cancer works for real. Even if they removed a primary brain cancer then he'd still have to go through chemo.

    Don't worry too much about which cancers are hard to treat with our present technology. All cancers are hard to treat. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy and surgery are really bad treatment options. They are incredibly aggressive and many of the symptoms you see from cancer patients are the result of their treatment, not their cancer. It's chemo that'll make you throw up constantly, make your fingernails and hair fall out, make you unable to think for long periods and make you thin and gaunt and look like death. And a course of chemo lasts like two years in many cases. Seriously, you cannot oversell how bad our present treatments are, they just happen to be the only ones that work. Well, sort of work. Because no matter what cancer will take a chunk off your life expectancy. Doctors don't talk about getting rid of cancer forever. They only look at five year survival rates for how many people "survive" cancer. But most cancer patients die much younger than they otherwise would and many will have recurring cancers. So as I say, cancer sucks. We still know almost nothing about it. We definitively cannot cure cancer. Our treatments today are the equivalent of cutting off a limb to treat gangrene.

    As for permanent impact to the kid; again don't worry. When you're talking brains we don't no shit about shit. Some people can literally have bits of their brain removed (on occasion by gunshot) and be just fine. Other people you touch the same bit with a knife and they'll never walk again. We really don't know. So some slight brain damage from a major cranial surgery is totally plausible. If his tumor was in his cerebellum then some damage to his ability to move would be expected, and you can tweak that to be whatever effects you are looking for specifically. That might heal, or not, up to you. I would shy away from spinal paralysis because, well, that stuff does not get better. Cancer could eat part of his spine but that won't ever come back.
     
    Iain Aschendale likes this.
  5. ToBeInspired

    ToBeInspired Senior Member

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    I'd like to start off by thanking everyone for their responses. In reference to LostThePlot there are a few things I'd like to clarify.

    The novel is not about developing the relationship between the older sister and younger brother. In fact, the younger brother won't even be an involved character until later in the series. The technology level, that she will be allowed access to, is far greater than what we currently have. I won't go into details, but it's justifiable within my world building.

    The novel is more focused on the lengths the older sister will go to save her brother. A relatively normal person, put in extreme circumstances, overcoming difficulties leading to personal growth. While I don't like using this term pertaining to cancer... it's a plot device meant to account for the determination she has. Instead of simply telling, I'm working on showing.

    The reason I decided on brain cancer is because I wanted a disease that is incredibly hard to cure. I wanted something that is almost considered untreatable in normal situations. This justifies the reasoning in the main character abandoning everything to take this opportunity. It doesn't even have to be cancer, but the idea that is a symptom of the mind makes a lot of sense with there being a cure.

    It's possible, though, that I could have it be a longer drawn out process. He could have tried traditional cures, which did not take, leading to the decision instead. However, I need modern medicine to fail.

    The idea about lasting damage has to pertain to when the younger brother starts to become developed as a character. Being paralytic, muscle loss, or something similar would generate a transition point. However, the damage could become before the cure as a symptom of the disease. I simply need his body to become weakened, damaged, or even emancipated.
     
  6. JE Loddon

    JE Loddon Active Member

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    I think leukemia is the most common cancer to occur in children.
     
  7. S A Lee

    S A Lee Contributor Contributor

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    In the present day, though it tends to happen to middle-aged men, is pancreatic cancer. Now, I personally know someone who lost his relative, a sister in her late twenties, to it, so it isn't completely discriminate in who it attacks.

    Since the pancreas creates insulin, cancer there is likely to throw your blood sugar out of whack, likely hypoglycaemic.
     

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