Short answers, pulled from the story.
Leukemia is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These cells are not fully developed and are called blasts or leukemia cells. The name means 'white blood', from the Greek words leukos for white and haima for blood.
The four main types of leukemia are acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), acute myeloid leukemia (AML), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). They are classified by speed, acute or chronic, and by the cell affected, lymphocytic or myeloid.
The five-year survival rate for leukemia was 69 percent in the United States from 2016 to 2022. Rates vary widely by type, from 20 percent for acute myelogenous leukemia to 90 percent for chronic myelogenous leukemia. In children under 15 in wealthy countries, survival rises above 60 or even 90 percent.
Leukemia results from mutations in DNA that activate oncogenes or deactivate tumor suppressor genes. Known causes in adults include ionizing radiation, the petrochemical benzene, alkylating chemotherapy drugs, and tobacco for acute myeloid leukemia. Viruses such as HTLV-1 and genetic conditions like Down syndrome and Fanconi anemia also raise the risk.
Leukemia is treated with combinations of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, and bone marrow transplant, with supportive and palliative care as needed. Chronic myelogenous leukemia is commonly treated with imatinib, sold as Gleevec or Glivec, an oral pill that keeps more than 90 percent of people in check for at least five years. Some types are managed with watchful waiting.
Leukemia was first described by the anatomist and surgeon Alfred-Armand-Louis-Marie Velpeau in 1827. A fuller description was given by pathologist Rudolf Virchow in 1845, who coined the German name Leukämie. About ten years later, Franz Ernst Christian Neumann traced the abnormal blood to a problem in the bone marrow.
Leukemia is the most common cancer in children, and three-quarters of childhood cases are the acute lymphoblastic type. However, over 90 percent of all leukemias are diagnosed in adults, where chronic lymphocytic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia are most common. In 2015, leukemia was present in 2.3 million people worldwide and caused 353,500 deaths.