* Cancer can occur at any age, but mostly appears in people middle-aged and older. * Cancer causes more deaths in American children aged one to 14 years than any other disease. * In the 1980s more than 4.5 million Americans died from cancer. * About 83 million people alive today--or one in three Americans--will eventually get cancer. * Cancer cost the United States roughly $104 billion in 1990--including medical expenses and loss of work productivity. * Approximately 520,000 Americans die of cancer each year. The millions of cells that make up the body normally reproduce in an orderly manner, replacing worn-out tissues and repairing injuries to maintain health. However, certain cells may begin to reproduce abnormally, massing together to form tumors. If a tumor is benign, it will remain self-contained. A malignant--or cancerous--tumor, on the other hand, will invade neighboring tissues, and can spread through the blood and lymphatic systems to distant parts of the body in a process called metastasis.
