There are serious side effects from radiation treatment to the brain.

I chose this statement because two of my siblings are battling cancer (one has lung cancer the other had breast cancer) and they are both faced with making the decision to accept radiation as treatment. The sibling with lung cancer had the unfortunate reoccurrence of cancer which showed up in her brain as a tumor. She was given very little information about the side effects of radiation treatment. Making the decision to accept radiation treatment to battle cancer or not is one faced by many cancer patients. In cases where cancer travels to the brain, chemo therapy is not a treatment option. When cancer travels to the brain the only option for treatment is radiation. If you elect to have radiation treatment, the benefits or probable outcomes are tumor shrinkage and/or control of a tumor. If the treatment is successful you may live longer and the associated symptoms you experience from the tumor could go away or diminish greatly. If you elect not to have radiation treatment you could risk a growing tumor which could result in death and you would most likely be prescribed medication for pain, seizures and/or swelling that may result from the tumor. My early research of this topic has prompted the following three questions that I will attempt to answer in my essay.
1. What are the side effects of radiation treatment?
2. Does treatment outweigh the risk?
3. What are the statistics?
The three questions above are what I would like answers to if I