Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

In the book The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. The author tells the story of a women whose cells were used for scientific experiments. The story begins with the main character, Henrietta Lacks, who is going to John Hopkins Hospital to have a lump on her cervix looked at by doctors. Henrietta had been experiencing pain since the birth of her fourth child. She has several theories as to what is causing this pain, such as complications with childbirth or an STD which she may have gotten from her unfaithful husband. Henrietta had been checked out by local doctors but they attributed the lump to syphilis, which lacks already had. John Hopkins was Lacks’ only option due to Jim Crow laws. The doctor that examined Lacks found many things wrong with her including
the lump, which was something he had never seen. When the doctor gets Henrietta’s biopsy back it is revealed that she has stage I cervix cancer. The science and studies behind cervix cancer were not very advanced and many considered it “non-invasive,” but Richard Wesley Telinde wanted to prove that this form of cancer could still spread and become more serious. Telinde went to John Hopkins to get subjects for his theory. Telinde had to find a way to grow live human cells outside of the body which had not been done at this time period. One of the samples he received were Henrietta’s cancer cells. Henrietta was treated for cancer by having radium put inside her cervix. The scientists working with Henrietta’s cells named them HeLa, using the first two letters of her first and last name. Not much was expected to happen since no one had been able to grow cells in a lab before, but the cells began to grow uncontrollably. The scientist, Gey, was even able to share these cells with his colleagues. The book then goes back to Henrietta. With her radiation treatments over she went back to her normal life. Henrietta was unable to take care of her daughter with epilepsy so she had to put her into an asylum, this devastated Henrietta. Henrietta then had to go back for more treatments which then began to have negative effects. The book moves to the future where the writer is at a seminar learning about HeLa cells and Henrietta’s contribution. After much persistence Skloot finally gets a phone number for Henrietta’s daughter, Deborah. Skloot learns that the family is in the dark when it comes to what happened to Henrietta and why John Hopkins has anything to do with it all. Later Deborah won’t speak with Skloot because she was told not to tell her anything. This was because Henrietta’s husband thinks Skloot has Henrietta’s cells. The book then goes back and it explains that Henrietta’s cells have been spread and used for research in labs all over the world meanwhile Henrietta’s cancer is getting worse. Tumors begin to appear and Henrietta is untreatable the radiation filled her body and was killing her. Henrietta died October 4, 1951. Gey now wants to use cells from other parts of Henrietta so he convinces her husband to allow an autopsy. Henrietta’s cells were now being tested and experimented on everywhere. The book explains that although the cells were cancer cells they still shared many things with normal cells making them good for testing. The HeLa cells were used to study viruses like herpes and mumps. A lot was learned from Henrietta’s cells, scientists accidently discovered clear views of chromosomes, attributing to the discovery that there were 46 chromosomes. The uses for studying HeLa cells kept growing and factories were created to just grow these cells. People then began to question who the woman behind these cells were, but reporters got Henrietta’s last name wrong making it harder to figure out who she was. Skloot goes back to right after Henrietta’s funeral and explains how the whole family fell apart. Henrietta’s cousin Ethel moved in to take care of the family, but Ethel and her husband were abusive and treated Henrietta’s children terribly. Deborah was even sexually abused by Ethel’s husband. Deborah’s father did not even believe the abuse was true. The story begins to focus more on Deborah in this chapter. Deborah was often called Dale. Deborah constantly had to deal with sexual advances from family members. She learned that she had a sister named Elsie from her father. When Deborah tried to learn anything about her sister all she could learn was that she had died at age fifteen. Deborah is also very bothered by the fact that she does not remember anything about her mother. The story explains about a scientist who uses The HeLa cells to put in real people. This man had put cancer cells into so many people without their consent. Now many experiments were being performed with HeLa cells many of these experiments would be considered wrong. HeLa cells were even taken into space to test the effects on these cells. Skloot must win the families approval before she is able to learn about Henrietta from them. The family explains many of the horrendous rumors about John Hopkins Hospital. Saying it was like the boogeyman. Slaves were often kidnapped and experimented on during its early existence. The family also explains how unfair it is that so many people have made money off of Henrietta when Henrietta did not give the consent to test her cells. The book also explains that Gey, who was responsible for all these cells is diagnosed with cancer, he tries to have his cells used like Henrietta’s but the risk is too great. Before Gey dies he gives permission to release Henrietta’s real last name and the world now knows the name behind the HeLa cells. The third part of the book takes place after Henrietta’s name had been released and Henrietta’s daughter in-law, Bobbette, meets a man who works with HeLa cells. Bobbette is confused but soon figures out that the cells are from her husband’s mother. When the family learns that a part of Henrietta is still alive somewhere, her husband misinterprets the news and believes that the hospital is hiding Henrietta. Doctors contacted the family to get blood to try to map the human genome, but there was so much confusion that they thought they were being tested for cancer. As the family learns more about Henrietta’s contribution to science they also learn that a lot of many was made from HeLa cells. This is very unfair considering the family was not paid for the use of Henrietta’s cells. Many legal battles arose after Henrietta’s family tried to push for compensation. As it turns out there had been other people’s cells who had been taken against their consent. Skloot explains what had happened to the Lacks family after they were unable to get compensation. Deborah eventually got married, but pretty much the entire lacks family had financial trouble. Deborah found a book about HeLa cells and was very detailed about the suffering that her mother had faced and Deborah was horrified, but the author is gets away with this. Eventually a German virologist discovers that Human Papilloma virus is connected with cervical cancer and this was the reason Henrietta had gotten the cancer. It is explained that a genetic mutation occurred when the virus attatched itself to her eleventh chromosome and shut off the gene that suppresses tumors. Scientist also discovered that telomerase in the HeLa cells behaved differently than normal cells and it kept renewing itself instead of dying.
This is the reason why Henrietta’s cells were immortal and kept growing. A documentary on HeLa cells and Henrietta’s contribution finally gave credit to the Lacks family. The family is still upset because they can’t even afford healthcare but their mothers cells are used everywhere. As Skloot was writing the book many people tried to prevent the family from even talking to her. Eventually Skloot gains Deborah’s trust. The stress of all that has happened in Deborah’s life causes her to become sick and she eventually has a stroke. Although The HeLa cells have led to many great contributions in the studies of viruses the book leaves the reader wondering how the family of Henrietta could have been treated so poorly considering Henrietta’s huge contribution. Henrietta’s case has also had monumental effects on laws about how patients are treated, because of Henrietta patients must give their consent rather than be tested on without their knowledge. Henrietta has had a huge role in science and for this along with her cells her contributions will live on
forever.