When people talk about cancer, do you understand the common terms used or what it means? Today, we’re going to review common vocabulary and the most appropriate signs to use.

Transcript:
[Visual Description: Introduction- Light green background. The Cocoon logo, a purple butterfly flying over written out cursive “The Cocoon” ending with a drawn out cocoon. Pink Wings of Hope and Link appears underneath. Cocoon Logo gets flipped into a short video of the host wearing black shirt, turning to look at the camera and Hosted by Stephanie appears.]

[Visual Description: Stephanie – a white female, dressed in a dark purple shirt, in front of a textured purple background.]

[Stephanie] When people talk about cancer, do you understand the common terms used or what it means? Today, we’re going to review common vocabulary and the most appropriate signs to use. For example, the word “cancer” is usually signed like this (demonstrate sign). Many cancer survivors do not like this sign, because “cancer does not eat you up.” It harms your body, but it does not “eat” away your organs. The most appropriate sign is to fingerspell the word (demonstrate).

[Image in corner: “Cancer” a graphic outline of a human with a zoomed out cancerous cell]

[Stephanie] Cancer is a disease in which some of the body’s cells grow uncontrollably and spread to other parts of the body.

[Image in corner: “Tumor” a graphic outline of a human with a zoomed out cancerous cell]

[Stephanie] A tumor is an abnormal mass of tissue caused by unhealthy cells.

[Image in corner: “Cyst” Layers of the skin with a white sac within the tissues. Few strands of hair coming out.]

[Stephanie] A cyst is a sac that may be filled with air, fluid, or other material.

[Image in corner: “Biopsy” A graphic human laying down, with a potential cancer cell in their body and a biopsy needle taking a sample of the cell.]

[Stephanie] A biopsy is a surgical procedure to remove a piece of the suspected tissue or a sample of cells from your body so that it can be tested for a disease.

Both tumors or cysts could become cancerous or not. A biopsy may be recommended to determine whether it is cancerous.

[Image in corner: “Benign” red cells grouped up into one space with a few blue cells surrounding it.]

[Stephanie] Benign is a condition, tumor, or growth that is not cancerous. This means it does not spread to other parts of the body.

[Image in corner: “Malignant” red cells breaking out of the space and spreading with a few blue cells surrounding it.]

[Stephanie] Malignant is when the tumor is cancerous and can spread to other parts of the body.

[Image in corner: “Metastatic” Cells traveling to different parts of the body such as organs, lungs, head, brain, and bones.]

[Stephanie] Metastatic is when the cancer spreads to a different body part from where it started. When this happens, doctors say the cancer has “metastasized.” Your doctor may also call it “metastatic cancer,” “advanced cancer,” or “Stage 4 cancer.” These terms have different meanings though. Ask your doctor to explain where the cancer has spread.

[Image in corner: “Chemotherapy” A white female nurse sitting next to a black male who is laying down with an IV in his arm. Anti-Cancer Drug is labeled on the IV bag.]

[Stephanie] Chemotherapy is a treatment that uses drugs to stop the growth of cancer either by killing the cells or stopping them from dividing.

[Image in corner: “Radiation Therapy” a x-ray skeleton is laying on a table with a green scan targeting their lungs.]

[Stephanie] Radiation therapy is a high-energy radiation from x-rays, neutrons, protons and other sources to kill the cancer cells and shrink tumors.

In this vlog, we did not cover all of the important vocabulary as the list is quite extensive! However, we hope that you find this vlog helpful in building your knowledge about cancer.

[Visual Description: Ending- Light green background. The Cocoon logo, a purple butterfly flying over written out cursive “The Cocoon” ending with a drawn out cocoon. Pink Wings of Hope is a program of DEAF, Inc. and Link appears underneath.]