Actually while there are 4 major forms of leukemia, with all its subsets, there are actually more than 20 forms of leukemia, some of them being extremely rare...but the most common types are ALL(acute lymphocytic leukemia)...this is the type that most children get, and its the type that usually carries the highest cure rate...there is also AML(actute myeloid leukemia), which is more common among adults, tho many children also get it(my own son was diagnosed with this when he was 15yrs old)...the cure rate for AML is much poorer than for ALL, and the treament choices of chemo drugs, are usually much harsher than those chemo drugs used for ALL...there is also CLL(chronic lymphocytic leukemia), and CML(chronic myeloid leukemia)...I am not sure about how the distribution of the chronic forms pans out...
Then there are many other types, including the Hairy Cell type mentioned by another poster...and tho most leukemias, involve the white cell blood lines, there is also a very rare type of red cell leukemia...
Each form of leukemia, and its various subsets, all carry different treatments, different prognosis, and different criteria...
I hate this leukemia...especially because so many little children get it...
My son was diagnosed 9/15/03 ALL. He will be off treatment 1/9/07. Thank God!
Thank you for the explanation. I had looked into this a couple of years ago when my mother was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, and alas, I didn't have the information in front of me when I was responding to the poster in the Ed Bradley thread who insisted that Bradley had AIDS because he died from leukemia (he was trying to correlate Bradley's leukemia with AIDS). Nothing like trying to put forth an argument without proper information. Thanks again.
And by the way, my prayers too for Senator Thomas and best wishes on a speedy and successful recovery.