Cancer: The Adventure

You are an immature myeloid cell, also known as a myelocyte. You’re no longer a completely blank slate like you were when you were first born, but you still haven’t officially decided what you want to do when you grow up. Or at least, you’re not supposed to have decided yet, but in your mind you already have. When you graduate and are allowed to leave the bone marrow, you wanna be a neutrophil! Your grades aren’t good enough to get into the Basophil Academy, and you’re not enough of a ditz to be an Eosinophil, but neutrophils have the coolest jobs anyway. They get to be right there on the front lines whenever anything happens, fighting off invading bacteria and even the occasional virus. It gets so boring here in the bone marrow, so the thought of roaming around the whole body fills you with yearning and excitement.

Your serial number is CU-1322, but your classmates know you as “Clue” because you’re always looking for them. Puddle of water? Maybe it’s the slime trail of a bacterium! Mr. Neutrophil acting grumpier than usual while teaching a class? Oh no, what if he’s been infected by a virus? The others think it’s silly, that you’re reading too much into things. They prefer to leap straight into the action, slicing and dicing at any (for now, imaginary) threat that comes their way. But you’ve always been a curious one, motivated less by a love of violence and more by the desire to explore and protect this body that you call your home.

And right now, that curiosity has been piqued for sure. You and your friends were playing a rousing game of “Strep Throat” on the playground, until suddenly Ms. Macrophage interrupts the game and calls for everyone to go inside. “Come along, children,” she sings sweetly, but you notice a troubled look on her normally placid face. “It’s time for an emergency drill!” Now everyone else turns toward her, grumbling about recess being interrupted, but you hesitate for a moment. Should you go inside and sit in a cramped boring room with everyone, or try to stay outside and get in some more play/investigation time? And, if you choose the latter, what do you wanna do?