Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

On the cover photo Henrietta has her hands on her hips and has not yet reached the ago of 30. She is oblivious to the tumor slowly growing inside her and that she will soon leave 5 children motherless, and lead scientific breakthroughs for decades. The photographer is unknown, yet the picture itself has been in various media. Months before she died cells were cut from her cervix. There are many, many HeLa cells in labs today, an inconceivable number intact. Henrietta died in 1951 from cervical cancer. Before she died a surgeon took samples from her tumor and put them in a petri dish. Her cells reproduced a new generation every 24 hours, the first immortal cells every in a lab. Her cells helped scientists find new ways to treat cancer, herpes, influenza, and Parkinson's. Her cells have become the standard in labs. HeLa cells have been reproducing since 1951. There was little information about Henrietta prior to this book. The family was angry that cells were being sold for $25.00 a vile. They are also angry that they can barely afford health care when the people who took the cells became rich off of them. January 29, 1951 Henrietta went to the gynecologist. Jones cut out a sample of the tumor and sent it to pathology. Henrietta was born August 1, 1920. Henrietta’s mother died and she was shipped off to live with her grandfather. Henrietta and Day started having children together. Their first child was born when Henrietta was only 14 years old. Henrietta died of uremic poisoning on October 4, 1951; at the age of thirty-one. Shortly after her death planing began for a HeLa factory, in order to stop polio. The public needed a vaccine. On memorial day 1952 tubes containing HeLa cells were packed and were shipped to Minnesota. Sheer put the cells in an incubator and the cells began to grow; this was the first batch of live cells to be shipped in the mail. The NFIP chose the Tuskegee Institute for a HeLa distribution center because of Charles Bynum, director