The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Essay Example

In 1951, the first immortal human cell line was produced in the laboratory of Dr. George Gey, a cell biologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital. These cells dramatically changed the course of medicine—they were used to study the poliovirus, chemotherapy, genetics, cloning, in vitro fertilization, and contributed to many medical advancements. However, hardly anyone knew anything about the person from which those cells came. The cells, called HeLa, were sampled from a woman named Henrietta Lacks, which used to be commonly mistaken for Helen Larson or Helen Lane. Her real name was not revealed to the public until the 1970s. Before then, not many people knew about Henrietta’s role in the birth of HeLa, and those who had some idea were most likely misinformed due to a spread of false information relayed in speeches and newspapers. It was not until that same time, more than twenty years later, that Henrietta’s own family discovered that scientists had collected and immortalized her cells.

Author Rebecca Skloot begins her book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, with a quote from Elie Wiesel, reading, “We must not see any person as an abstraction. Instead, we must see in every person a universe with its own secrets, with its own treasures, with its own sources of anguish, and with some measure of triumph.” Henrietta and her family were not immediately acknowledged for their secrets, treasures, anguishes, or triumphs. Instead, the Lackses’ name floated about vaguely as if it were simply abstract. Initially, researchers made little effort to offer credit to Henrietta. Everyone was interested in her cells—not her story. She had been regarded as a scientific experiment more than she was a human being. Her erasure was not deserved—nor was it necessary—and the effects it had on her family have revealed that many of the scientists who worked with HeLa treated Henrietta’s case with a lack of morality.

Henrietta’s tissue was sampled for the first time while she was in surgery to receive radium treatment for her cervical cancer. Before the surgeon on duty began the operation, he “picked up a sharp knife and shaved two dime-sized pieces of tissue from Henrietta’s cervix: one from her tumor, and one from the healthy cervical tissue nearby” (Skloot 33). This was done without Henrietta’s knowledge or consent. Afterward, the samples were taken to Dr. Gey’s laboratory where the world’s first immortal cells would later be grown. Following this incredible breakthrough, researchers did not inform Henrietta or her family about what had been done with her cells. Even after her passing, no member of Henrietta’s family knew that her cells were somehow still alive. Aforementioned, the Lackses knew nothing of Henrietta’s relation to HeLa until the 1970s, when the rest of the world discovered who she was at the same time.

The realization that part of Henrietta was still alive was extremely distressing for the Lacks family—particularly for Deborah, Henrietta’s youngest daughter, who had been yearning to know exactly what happened to her mother years ago. As she and Skloot struggled to collect information, Deborah experienced several crises which affected both her physical and psychological health. She was perturbed that her mother could physically feel every experiment that was performed on her cells; she was angry that HeLa had become a multibillion-dollar industry but her family remained impoverished; she grew paranoid that she had the same cancer as Henrietta. Panic, confusion, and incoherent speech prompted her to visit the hospital, where she found that her blood pressure and blood sugar were so high, the doctor was surprised she had not had a heart attack or a stroke. Not long after, Deborah experienced a real stroke and had no choice but to take a break from researching with Skloot, who, in the face of adversity, continued to search for answers as she fought to bring closure to the Lacks family. Skloot recognized Henrietta for her secrets, treasures, anguishes, and triumphs and strived to bring public awareness to them as well. Now the world knows who Henrietta was and has given her the credit Deborah wanted her to have. Skloot’s determination helped recover a life that otherwise could have been lost and proved that HeLa was more than just an experiment.