ABCs of Cancer
How did Lizzy turn into a cancer cell?

Well, I am not the same good cell as I was before.
Something terrible has happened to make me a different cell - a bad cell…

Once day, something strange happened to the genes inside my nucleus and I began to behave abnormally. I realised that I was unable to control my cell anymore. My cell divided out of control and I had new irregular cells in my body that I did not need. These cells just continued to grow and divide wildly without dying. The new cells piled up on each other and ugly lumps were formed. Before long, I discovered that my genes were actually damaged beyond repair and I was no longer a normal cell. My friends were very scared and called my lumpy body a tumour (say: too-mer).
I continued to grow bigger and bigger pushing at all my neighbours and soon became a big bully attacking and causing harm to all my friends. I don't know what has become of me. Everybody tells me this is what happens to all normal cells when they are changed into a cancer cell. Watch how Lizzy grow into a tumour in the animation below. You will see that normal cells are all about the same size and grow in orderly rows whereas the cells in the tumour have different sizes and are heaped over each other.

The mutated cell divides out of control and end up having new cells that our body doesn't need. These cells just continue to grow and divide without dying. These wildly dividing cells pile up on each other and form lumps called tumours (say: tew-mers).
Watch how a tumour is formed in the animation below. You will see that normal cells are all about the same size and grow in orderly rows whereas the cells in the tumour have different sizes and are heaped over each other.