Chemotherapy is a powerful medicine for cancer. 'Chemo' means chemical, and 'therapy' means treatment - people often just call it chemo for short. The chemo is put down a tube through your skin and then gets into your bloodstream through which it flows all round your body.

Chemo works by killing any cells that grow FAST and it has three steps. These are remission induction, in which you get drugs to try to kill 99% of the cancer cells, intensification/consolidation - you receive different drugs to try and get rid of any cancer cells that are left - and maintenance therapy, in which you have more mild drugs continuously to try and keep you cancer-free.

By killing all cells that grow fast, sometimes chemo mistakes some of the good cells in your body for cancer cells. This can cause side effects, like feeling sick (if it kills stomach cells), losing your hair (if it kills hair cells) and feeling really tired (if it kills blood cells). These effects won't last after you stop having chemo though, and your hair will grow back!

Did you know? If you lose your hair after having chemotherapy, it might grow back a different colour!


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