Worth Books. - Summary and analysis of The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks: based on the book by Rebecca Skloot

Summary and Analysis of

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Based on the Book by Rebecca Skloot

Contents

Context

On October 4, 1951, Henrietta Lacks, an African American mother of five from Virginia died of cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. While beloved and mourned by her family, no one could have predicted that Henriettas death would change the course of medical science. Thats exactly what happened, though, when scientists who had extracted cancerous cells from Henriettas cervixwithout informing her or her familyfound that her cells were capable of reproducing indefinitely in the lab. This first line of immortal human cells would be used in research ranging from the development of the polio vaccine to cancer detection and treatment, and learning how human cells responded to zero-gravity conditions.

While scientists have long been familiar with the extraordinary HeLa cells as they are known (from He nrietta La cks), few knew anything about Henrietta, her family, and the effects that her cells had on their lives until Rebecca Skloots book was published in 2010, nearly sixty years after Henriettas death.

After more than a decade of researchand making her way past a great deal of initial resistance from Henriettas widower and childrenSkloot reveals for the first time the deeply personal story of the woman whose cells became one of the most important tools in medicine, and the family that was ignored and forgotten by the scientists who harvested her cells without her knowledge or permission.

Though there is no evidence that the doctor who originally harvested the cells or Johns Hopkins ever received direct profit from the sale of HeLa cells, many biotech companies have; and none of the profits were shared with the Lacks family.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a pivotal exploration of the complicated relationship between race, science, and medical ethics.

Overview

In 1951, after more than a year of experiencing pelvic pain and abnormal bleeding, Henrietta Lacks, a young African American mother of five, is diagnosed with cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Hopkins doctors treat her with surgery and radiation, but her cancer continues to spread and she dies within a year of the diagnosis, leaving behind her husband and children.

During her treatment, without her knowledge or consent, doctors remove a sample of Henriettas cancerous cells. Hopkinss head of tissue-culture research, Dr. George Gey, has been trying to grow a line of immortal human cells that reproduce indefinitely to be used for research that cannot be done on live patients. To Geys surprise, Henriettas cancerous cells do not die within a few days, as all his previous samples have, but instead continue to multiply at a rapid pace.

While her family struggles after her passing, Henriettas cells are on their way to notoriety in the scientific community. George Gey sends samples of the incredible immortal cells to labs around the world where scientists use them in all kinds of research.

It isnt until 1973, two decades after Henriettas death, that her family learns her cells are still alive. Her husband and children feel confused and angry that they were never informed about Henriettas cells or compensated for any of her contributions to science.

When science journalist Rebecca Skloot first tries to talk to Henriettas children, she faces a great deal of resistance. They feel they have been taken advantage of by the media and scientific community. Once Henriettas daughter Deborah finally agrees to talk to Skloot, they embark on an incredible journey together to learn about Henriettas past, her incredible cells, and the lengthy struggle for patients to gain the right to informed consent for how doctors can study their bodies.

Summary

Part One: Life

We first meet Henrietta Lacks, a young African American mother of five, at Johns Hopkins Hospital on January 29, 1951. After experiencing pelvic pain and abnormal bleeding for more than a year, she and her husband drive nearly twenty miles from their home to the hospital in Baltimore, as it is one of the few locations at the time that treats black patients. Hopkins, which was built as a charity hospital for the sick and poor in 1889, is segregated; Henrietta sees Dr. Howard Jones, the gynecologist on duty, in a colored-only exam room. Dr. Jones finds a tumor on her cervix.

After her exam at Hopkins, Henrietta receives a diagnosis of stage I epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix. At the time of her diagnosis, Dr. Richard TeLinde, a Hopkins gynecologist and one of the leading experts on cervical cancer at the time, was researching new ways to detect and treat the disease. To test his hypotheses, he needs to study samples of cancerous cells from patients. He enlists George Gey, the intelligent, driven, yet slightly reckless, head of tissue research at the hospital, to help him harvest some of her cervical cells and put them under a microscope.

Meanwhile, Gey was working on his own project: trying to grow the first immortal human cellsones that would continually reproduce themselves outside of the body. These cells could be used for any type of research on human cells that wouldnt be possible on a living person, such as finding a cure for cancer.

Over the course of Henriettas treatment, surgeons remove a small piece of her normal cervical tissue and a piece from her tumorwithout her knowledge or permissionand give them to Gey who, with the help of his lab assistant, Mary Kubicek, transfer the material into a culture for them to grow.

At the time, the medical community considers a patients participation in medical research as a fair trade for free healthcare. While her healthy cells die soon after, her cancerous cells continue to duplicate every twenty-four hours. Amazed that he may have grown the first immortal human cells, Gey eagerly shares samples of Henriettas cells with his colleagues. Before long, Henriettas cells are in labs all over the world. Researchers can conduct experiments on them to see how human cells will react to difficult treatment methods.

While Henrietta bravely endures her treatments and continues to care for her children, she grows weaker and her pain intensifies. Doctors discover her cancer has spread throughout her body; little can be done, except try to ease her pain.

According to a colleague, Gey visits Henrietta in the hospital not long before her death and tells her that her cells will make her immortal. She replies that she is glad some good will come of her suffering. On October 4, 1951, less than a year after her diagnosis, Henrietta dies.

Before Henriettas diagnosis, she had lived an average life. She was raised by her maternal grandfather, Tommy Lacks, in Clover, Virginia, where her ancestors had been slaves and the family still worked on tobacco farms. Henrietta grew close to her first cousin, David Day Lacks, who also lived with Tommy. Henrietta attended school through the sixth grade, while Day went through the fourth grade. Like all of the Lacks children, they left school young because their family needed their help in the fields.

Their relationship deepened and they had a son, Lawrence, and a daughter, Elsie, who was epileptic and had intellectual disabilities. Henrietta and Day married in August of 1941. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor just months later, the family moved to Turner Station, a small black community just outside Baltimore, so Day could take a job at Bethlehem Steels Sparrows Point steel mill. With steel in great demand for the war effort, Days new job was lucrative compared to his old work in the tobacco fields. Henrietta found friends in their new town and was loved by many. She was kind, fun, beautiful, caring, and always helped those in need.