The+Immortal+Life+of+Henrietta+Lacks

Please write a brief response to the book in which you provide a quote that you consider interesting, puzzling, or provocative, and create a question based on that quote that might provide meaningful discussion. Remember to place the quote in context the way you would in a summer reading journal.

Of the myriad remarkable aspects of this book (Henrietta’s stoicism and strength; Rebecca Skloot’s tenacity in tracking the story; the hardships the various generations of the Lacks family faced; the fascinating scientific education on cell growth; and the terrifying racial components of so much medical research—I think immediately of the syphilis study at Tuskegee), two moments shook me deeply. The first appears in a snippet of conversation uttered by Lawrence, one of Henrietta’s sons, some fifty years after his mother’s death: “If our mother [is] so important to science,” he tells Skloot, “why can’t we get health insurance?” (168). While it seems no one from Johns Hopkins profited in an unseemly way from HeLa cells (George Gey, in particular, who shipped HeLa cells around the world for free, appears a kind of “hero” who was truly interested in research science divorced from profits), it does feel unjust that those in the Lacks family—like so many working class families—have often struggled without basic care, all while science is able to forge ahead, creating drug treatments that do things like eliminate thinning eye lashes and dry eyes. (Don't worry: I won't go on a political rant here. Nor do I find dry eyes a silly problem.) Under this kind of inequity, the suspicion of many in the Lacks family makes a certain kind of sense: if my mother's cells had been used by scientists the world over, and yet I couldn’t afford even basic health care, I imagine I too would see the use of those cells for research as a conspiracy. The second moment—one that was hard to read without tears—occurs late in Skloot’s book when Deborah and Zakariyya see their mother’s fluoresced cells in Christoph Lengauer’s lab at Hopkins. “They’re //beautiful//,” Deborah whispers to herself. “God, I never thought I’d see my mother under a microscope—I never dreamed this day would ever come” (266; emphasis original). The notion that Henrietta comes alive—and comes alive beautifully—before Deborah’s eyes when, for decades, people (from scientists to doctors to cancer patients to the Lacks family) were blind to her humanity—the moment was almost surreal, ghost-like. It’s so ironically haunting that, on some level, Deborah was able to see some sort of beauty in this struggle—after both she and her mother had suffered so much. It’s an image that does seem, ultimately, immortal. --Aaron Lehman

I’m so grateful this book was on the Porter-Gaud summer reading list. While I generally spend my summers reading mindless, “feel good,” romantic stories that all have the same plot, just different names and cities, this book was a refreshing change (while also reminding me why I tend to stay away from these books.) The unease I often felt, the tears I cried, and hours I spent just sitting and thinking about what I had just read left me yearning for my “safe” books that always left a cheesy grin pinned to my face and guaranteed a happy ending. While I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out which element of this book I was going to write about, a couple of things kept recurring in my mind. The first thing was Elsie. I can’t even begin to imagine the horrific things that were done to her at Crownsville. The explanation of Pneumoencephalography (267-268) is so horrifying that I had to stop reading. I think of Elsie dealing with the side effects listed, “crippling headaches, dizziness, seizures, vomiting – lasted until the body naturally refilled the skull with spinal fluid which usually took two to three months.” (268) While Henrietta’s death sounded slow and painful, I imagine Elsie suffered more than any of us will ever know. I imagine her suffering probably started long before Crownsville too. Given the descriptions of how Galen and other cousins pursued Deborah as a child (with her father knowing!), and Joe being beaten by Ethel, I find it hard to imagine that Elsie hadn’t been molested and/or beaten as a child. The second thing I kept thinking about is a passage from Deborah’s cousin Gary. “Henrietta was chosen,” Gary whispered. “And when the Lord chooses an angel to do his work, you never know what they going to come back looking like.” (286) While it doesn’t seem fair that she died too young, that her children grew up without their mother, or that Johns Hopkins stole Henrietta’s cells without her consent, I find myself humbly grateful for the hardships they all went through so that my children received the polio vaccine (among others), my father was cured of his cancer in 2010, the fact that doctors have to get my consent and keep me informed of what they are doing to my body and their intentions if they take anything from my body, and the countless other ways Henrietta’s cells have made my life better (many of which I will probably never know). Henrietta is an angel to all, a gift from God, whether you believe it or not and I am so thankful I am not blissfully ignorant of her existence anymore. -Jessica Schenkel

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was the most eye opening book I have ever read. Rebecca Skloot, the author, did a wonderful job of intertwining the scientific facts of HeLa with the real story of Henrietta Lacks. Her style of writing was simple enough for the average reader to understand, yet it still was challenging during some chapters, having to make you think scientifically. What especially intrigued me about the book was her family's side of the story. They did not know that cells were taken from their mother's cervix until decades after she had died. Henrietta's family was very poor and not well educated, so when they heard the news that her cells were truly immortal, they did not believe it. When they learned how much Henrietta's cells have changed medical history, they were proud. It wasn't until they learned how much money people were making off of them did they start to question this whole ordeal. This was the beginning of one of the most controversial debates in medical history, if HeLa has been made into multi-billion dollar projects, then why couldn't her family afford medical care? Deborah Lacks, Henrietta's daughter, was especially concerned with this, "...,if our mother cells done so much for medicine, how come her family can't afford to see no doctors?" (9). To me, I don't believe that this is a major injustice. These were only Henrietta's cells, not her family's. If she were still alive, I believe that yes, she should get a reward for her cells' miracles. But for her family to be so angry that they are rich by now makes me reconsider their values. Her cells have helped save millions of lives, even the lives of her family members, they should see that as a huge reward. But I do see the wrong in that they cannot afford proper medical care. Through out the book, we see how the Lacks family has had terrible trouble with doctors. All of them have diabetes, along with multiple miscellaneous diseases that went along with Henrietta and Day, her husband, being first cousins. However, they do not have enough money to go to the doctor every month to get the proper medical care needed for their difficulties. In the neighborhood they were raised in, Deborah recalls how blacks were abducted by medical staff to have tests performed on them, creating another reason why they did not trust doctors. But the thing that made Deborah Lacks the most disappointed was when she learned about the injustice that her sister Elsie went through. That entire section pulled at my heartstrings. How awful it was that she had to go through all of that torture, just because she was not like the other kids. Deborah commented on how beautiful she was and when she saw the picture of what she looked like at Crownsville, she couldn't believe it. It is such a depressing story. I must say, there were two parts of the book that really stood out to me. The first was when we learned that Henrietta, on her death bed, was told by her doctor that her cells were creating mircales. She replied by saying she was glad they were doing other people good. It is good to know that she did, in fact, know that her cells were helping save lives. The other part was when Deborah's cousin, Gary, told Rebecca that he believed God chose Henrietta for this wonderful achievement, and how everything worked out like it should have. I agree with Gary, Henrietta is probably up in Heaven right now so proud of what part of her is still doing. Henrietta has helped saved so many people, and now every time I go in for a check up, I think of Henrietta. -Molly Phillips

Skloot's book, //The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks//, addresses so many issues that are still a part of the world today that it is difficult to choose just one to focus on. That said, one of the things that struck me was the undisguised racism that the Lacks family faced even in the time when Skloot was recording their story. In her world, such discrimination was a thing of the past. The fight against racism had been won long ago. But upon her arrival in the poverty-stricken town of Clover, Virginia, our intrepid young reporter discovered that racism was, in fact, very much a force to reckon with there. The white Lackses, who denied all relations to their black counterparts, included Ruby, a boisterous octogenarian who was not ashamed to admit that she “just [couldn't] see the sense in” encouraging “white and black [to] get together and marry and all” or even simply “[m]ixing them like that, during school and church and everything” (125). To Skloot, such a remark must have seemed incredible. Indeed, she had been relatively surprised to learn that “the only time white people called Day was when they wanted something having to do with HeLa cells” (54). In her sphere, black and white people were treated equally and not discriminated against based on the color of their skin, yet in this world of low-income, race was a major factor, suggesting that the only time entitled caucasians find it important to be accepting is when doing so is worth their while in regard to their social or financial standing. Several times Deborah Lacks was warned never to trust white people, and she heeded the warnings because, in her experience, they had generally been accurate. White people had exploited her family for decades and her race for longer. Only in Rebecca Skloot's world, where people had enough money to fret over their social appearance as well—and not to resort to condescending African Americans for lack of another way to feel superior—was there racial equality. What, then, does this say about the human race and the society in which we live, if the only place where we see equality among the races is in a position of privilege? -Katherine Fair

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a captivating novel that centers around the ethical issues involving the immortal cells of a dead woman. While suffering from cervical cancer, Henrietta Lacks began multiple treatments at Johns Hopkins hospital, where some of her cells were removed from her cervix without her consent. When the original sample cells remained alive in culture, scientists thought the cells would soon die just like all the others had. However, the cells kept dividing, surviving, and thriving in culture. It soon became apparent that if stored in proper conditions, the cells of Henrietta Lacks would remain immortal. Scientists soon found themselves with millions of HeLa cells and decided that a giant lab dedicated to the preservation of her cells should be build. "Not long after Henrietta's death, planning began for a HeLa factory -- a massive operation that would grow to produce trillions of HeLa cells each week. It was built for one reason: to help stop polio." (93) Once HeLa cells were produced in mass numbers, scientists began to use them to test vaccines for polio, to research into cancer and AIDS, to test the effects of radiation, and how to map genes. The cells contributed/are contributing so much to medical research and generated/are generating enormous amounts of money. One major problem, however, is that of all the money earned from their mother's/wife's/sister's immortal cells, the family of Henrietta Lacks still receives no compensation for her contribution to science or for their lack of consent in the first place. -Grace Robards

// The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks // could not be written any better, in my opinion. The author, Rebecca Skloot went through thick and thin to try and fit the puzzle pieces together to make the book as beautifully written as it is. She went through everyone, everywhere, and everything to get as much information as she could. Last year in Biology, I got the chance to learn a little about Henrietta Lacks and the HeLa cells. I'm so glad that I got to hear a small part of it before I read the book because, honestly, I don't think I would've been interested in reading it as much as I did. I enjoyed how Rebecca Skloot put in the parts about her getting to meet different people that were in Henrietta Lacks' life. And Skloot never gave up. She kept fighting for what she believed in. This can relate to Henrietta also. As we hear in the book, Henrietta was a very strong person that cared about other people. In the book, one quote stood out to me. Skloot got to meet a microbiologist by the name of Laure Aurelian. Aurelian was telling Skloot "....'George told me that he leaned over Henrietta's bed and said, "Your cells will make you immortal." He told Henrietta her cells would help save the lives of countless people, and she smiled. She told him she was glad her pain would come to some good for someone'." That shows right there that Henrietta was a person that looked on the bright side of life. And that she was a fighter. Even though it was a slow and painful death for the most of it, she was strong throughout it. Skloot was strong too. She had to go past people that she probably didn't want an encounter with. If you think about it though, it kind of relates to how life is. You'll run into people that you just wish you didn't have to. -Kara Williams

// The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks // was truly a great book to read. The whole concept about Henrietta's cells being immortal and her family having no idea that a part of her still exists is just incredible. Rebecca Skloot, the author, did an outstanding job of portraying Henrietta's family's emotions and experiences that they went through on this journey of finding out about Henrietta's immortal cells. But the part that stood out the most to me in the book was the amount of information about Henrietta's cells and body parts that was given out by many doctors without permission, or the knowledge of, from her family. Chapter 26, Breach of Privacy, shows this very well. One quote from that chapter that stands out to me is, "Today, publishing medical records without permission could violate federal law. But in the early eighties, when someone gave Henrietta's medical records to Gold, there was no such law. Many states -- more than thirty, in fact -- had passed laws protecting the confidentially of a patient's medical records, but Maryland was not one of them" (211). This quote shows the clear difference between present day medical laws and laws from the early eighties. You could never give any information about a persons health or medical issues to the public without having consent from that person. The doctors in the book were giving all sorts of information about Henrietta's cells to other doctors, the media, and many other personal. This could never happen in the present day without major consequences. If we lived in the early eighties and this was happening to a family member of yours, without their knowledge and consent, how would you feel? What would you do to stop it? I know I would feel violated and confused. And that just how Henrietta's family felt. - Moe Rama

Rebecca Skloot is nothing short of an amazing story teller. Not only did she succeed in telling the story of Henrietta Lacks, who had been somewhat unfairly hidden from the public eye for so many years, but she also told stories of her family, the history of the HeLa cells, and her own journey of research. She masterfully mixed the stories with the science behind the cells in a way that never left me tired of reading about either. Because she wrote everything there is to know about Henrietta, she included so many interesting stories about many members of her large family. The ups and downs of her family's lives made the plot very dynamic. I don't know much about cells and their uses in medicine and science, and I thought not only would I not understand this book, but the history of the HeLa cells would be incredibly boring to read about. That certainly wasn't the case. Skloot managed to explain the science in terms that everyone can understand, and she definitely kept me eager to find out more. Of the many issues brought up in the book, the racial inequality of that time really stuck out. It's crazy how differently Henrieta was treated in the hospital because she was African American. It really bothered me that her cells were spurring so much progress in medicine, yet her family was still sick and in poverty. Having read this book, I almost feel guilty that this is the first I've heard of this amazing woman. As Cootie puts it: "It sounds strange," he said, "but her cells done lived longer than her memory [p. 118]". If her cells were so important to science, why didn't those doctors and scientists give her the respect of letting the world know who was responsible for the progress they were making? Couldn't they at least get her name right? They took her cells without asking, ended up making bilions off of them, and they didn't even let the family know. Even though we still have issues with this, we've made progress by implementing laws against procedures without patient consent. I'm so thankful that Skloot recognized how important it is to raise awareness about this remarkable woman and her story. After what she gave the world, the least we can do is give her a book. -Merritt Headden

//The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks// was an outstanding book to read. It was extremely well written and was a great attention grabber. I knew that I would enjoy this book considering that I love Biology and the section I read of this book for my Biology class last year, but I never thought that I would come to love it so much. Rebecca Skloot did an amazing job of "going to work" to find the answers she needed, this was one of my favorite things about the book itself. She went through it all to try to find the answers for not only herself but also for Henrietta's family and friends. My all time favorite part about this book is how Skloot shows the impact the cells had on the entire world. The one quote that truly shows the production of the cells is when George Gey, "sent shipments of HeLa cells to researchers in Texas, India, New York, Amsterdam, and many places in between. Those researchers gave them to more researchers, who gave them to more still. Henrietta's cells rode into the mountains of Chile in the saddlebags of pack mules. As Gey flew from one lab to another, demonstrating his culturing techniques and helping to set up new laboratories, he always flew with tubes of Henrietta's cells in his breast pocket, (57)." This quote to me shows that the HeLa cells are not only staying just around Hopkins Hospital, but they are going everywhere around the world like India, Amsterdam, NYC, and many others. We all know that these cells are important and very diverse for cures, but no one truly knew that there would be such a high demand for them because of their diversity of cures and anecdotes. Henrietta truly made an impression all around the world with helping cure things such as Polio, but she should of been remembered more than she was and also told what her cells were being used for. My discussion question is, if your cells were being taken to cure everyone around the world without your knowledge, how would you feel? Would you want people to know that those were your cells? Or would you just simply want to know at the least what your doctors were doing with your cells? I know I wouldn't care if people didn't know that the cells were mine but, I would at least want to know that my doctor was flying them all around the world to other labs and hospitals to cure people. -Madeleine Fennell

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is not only a story of a medical revolution, but also the story of an incredibly normal woman and her family. It is easy to say Henrietta's life was normal because it was. She did not obtain her fame until about 30 years after her death. To some, this book’s most important details are the racial issues of the world today; to me, the most inspiring aspect of this incredible story is the wisdom gained by the characters, especially Deborah. She grew up with simple education, only enough to get by. With this said, much of Deborah’s knowledge grew from experience opposed to textbooks. As a child abused by other family members and living without a mother, Deborah only had her sister in law, Bobbette, to teach her right from wrong. Even after Deborah’s 16 year old pregnancy, Bobbette made her go to “that special girl school where all the pregnant girls have big bellies just like you” (144). When Skloot first approached Deborah, Deborah had mixed feelings of giving Rebecca the information. There is a theme of racism on both sides of the story as the Lacks’s do not want to give up any information to white people who confront them. Most of the Lacks family despises white people thinking they are the doctor’s of John Hopkins hospital who have done many “tests” on them and denied the family members health insurance on several occasions. Despite Deborah’s sassy personality, Skloot made her way into Deborah’s circle of trust by supplying information that Deborah had been striving for. Deborah eventually grew into a beautiful character in my opinion. She loved anyone that would give her the time of day and she was brilliant enough to form her own opinions away from her families’ influences. When she became interested in telling her mother’s story the right way, she told Skloot, “We all black and white and everything else-this isn’t a race thing. There’s two sides to the story and that’s what we want to bring out” (250). My overall favorite part of the book is when Skloot understands the different interpretations of immortality. She visits Gary who explains to her that HeLa cells are Henrietta’s spiritual body. She then understands that in the Lackses eyes “Henrietta had been chosen by the Lord to become an immortal being” (296). In their eyes, she is an angel because her cells float in thin air, cured people’s diseases, and was immortal. Hearing Skoot state this near the end of the book, to me was incredible because she doesn’t have a religion, but still understood why it would make sense for Christians to interpret the cells in a spiritual manner. -Caroline Dennis

// The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks // was truly an outstanding read and beautifully written. Thumbs up to Rebecca Skloot, she composed that book so perfectly. As the reader you see how determined Rebecca was to find out unanswered questions and explore Henrietta’s life. I selected this book to read because last year in my biology class we learned a little bit about Henrietta’s story and from the beginning I was so intrigued. I was so thrilled to find out it was an option to read this summer. One quote that really stood out to me was, “She's the most important person in the world and her family living in poverty. If our mother is so important to science, why can't we get health insurance?” This quote sums out one of the most significant issues of Henrietta and her family’s journey. Why didn’t they get health insurance, or any money? Henrietta was an extremely kind and generous women who always put her before others; but if she knew how much her family was struggling because of these greedy doctors, she would not be pleased at all. My question is how could the family of the most important women in the world be ignored and treated the way they were. Her family had to witness Henrietta die while receiving no sympathy from the doctors who were basically killing her. Though her cells have been a huge blessing to the world, neither Henrietta nor her family was taken care of properly. She was brought into this world for a reason, but it’s a shame she wasn’t able to live her life to the fullest.

-Paige Politelli

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells the story of Henrietta's life in a way that made it really interesting to read. I was able to read an excerpt from the book in my Biology class and when it was on the list, I was excited to read it. It is clear from the first page that Rebecca Skloot is a determined author who clearly put a lot of hard work in to this book. Skloot met with different people from Henrietta’s past so she could learn more about who Henrietta was. I loved the different stories about her life and her family; they were exceedingly detailed and accurate. Without this book the world may have never known who Henrietta Lacks was and what contributed to he advances in science. The main issue in the story was that the doctors used Henrietta’s cells without obtaining permission from her or her family. Once the doctors realized Henrietta's cells were different from most cells, they started to package and sell her cells again, without her family's consent. "Not long after Henrietta's death, planning began for a HeLa factory--a massive operation that would grow to produce trillions of HeLa cells each week. It was built for one reason: to help stop polio."(p.93) The cells were being used to find a way to stop the spread of polio, but did that make it okay for doctors to use Henrietta's cells without her permission? Even if it’s scientifically helpful, is it morally ethical to use someone’s cells with out their permission?

-Reese Evans

Last semester in biology class, Mrs. Rader informed us that we would be starting an //ethics in biology// section. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief; more often than not, ethics questions are opinion based. This meant as long as we had an argument to back up what we believe in, we'd probably make pretty good grades in the weeks to come. We each received a short stack of stapled papers, still warm from the copy machine. "Tonight's homework is to read this excerpt from a book called __The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks__ ," she informed us as we jammed the packets into our backpacks and the lunch bell released us from our seats. That night as I opened up my book bag to start my assignments, I pulled out the then crinkled selection. As cliche as it may sound, in that short excerpt I got a taste of the real world. I felt pain and betrayal for Henrietta and her family, and elation and hope that Rebecca Skloot had dedicated ten years of her life to shed light on some perfect stranger's story. When I found out The Immortal Life was an option for summer reading, it was my obvious first choice. Being a feminist and egalitarian, I felt the sting of deceit as read of the fraudulence Gey and her doctors took advantage of her because of her race an inability to compensate for her procedures. The significance of the struggle and advances in medical sciences through her life and later death is something we take for granted often. We often forget that she was a real person, if we even have knowledge of her at all. The phrase that struck me most was when Sadie said, "Henrietta didn't fade away, you know, her looks, her body, it didn't just fade [...] The only thing you could tell was in her eyes. Her eyes were tellin you that she wasn't gonna be alive no more" (64). We have so much to owe Henrietta and her family, a family that can't even afford the co-pay of a doctor's visit. Do we have the right to deny doctors and scientists access to our cells and tissues? And if not, what basic rights do we have to avoid these rules?

-Alexis Winoski