Know Your Red Blood Cells
Anemic:
As we learned in What is Anemia, anemia occurs when your blood doesn't have enough hemoglobin. Normal levels are 120 - 160 g/L for women and 140-180 g/L for men. Hemoglobin is a protein in your red blood cells. It carries oxygen from your lungs to the rest of your body and collects the carbon dioxide for elimination.
Almost 99% of all blood cells are red blood cells. The body must continually produce red blood cells to replace the ones that die. If your body doesn't produce enough red blood cells, then you won't have enough hemoglobin to carry the oxygen your body needs out to where it needs it.
Cancer or cancer treatments can disrupt the production of new red blood cells. Learn more about the red blood cell production cycle and the impact of cancer in the next section.