Zakariyya's Past

“Maybe her cells have done good for some people, but I woulda rather had my mother. If she hadn’t been sacrificed, I mighta growed up to be a lot better person than I am now” (Skloot 248).

It is quite sad to hear these words come from Henrietta’s youngest son Zakariyya who had the hardest time dealing with her death. He was in and out of jail during his fifty years of life and was always angered and upset about how Hopkins and the entire medical world had overlooked his family, especially his mother. The feeling he presented during chapter 30 were very honest and clear that he was not at all happy with the overall outcome of his mother’s cells being taken. He showed Rebecca Skloot that the way doctors and scientists dealt with their family was not what he wished. I feel that Zakariyya was extremely emotional during this meeting because it brought back old feeling and also new ones as well. When his sister Deborah gave him the photograph that Dr. Lengauer had given to her, Zakariyya was overwhelmed and showed his softer side bringing tears to his eyes. I feel that after he realized that there were people out there who cared about bringing his mother’s legacy to life he was content and wanted to be a part of the experience. Was it true what Zakariyya said, that if his mother had lived he would have been a better person than he was now? I do believe he would have had more love in his life and would have really benefited from a mothers love. Overall, this chapter was extremely beneficial to showing some more about the personal life behind a few of Henrietta Lack’s children.   

Word Count: 253

Skloot, Rebecca. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" New York. Broadway Paperbacks, Crown Publishing, 2010. Print.

An Emotional Discovery

“If they’re doing research on Henrietta, she though, it’s only a matter of time before they come for Henrietta’s children, and maybe her grandchildren” (Skloot 180).

          When Bobbette Lacks discovered that her mother-in-law’s cells were being used in research and sold among scientists she was extremely upset that it was unknown to the entire family. This was to be a problem she thought because once Henrietta’s family found out this news, they were going to have a difficult time coping.  Once Bobbette relayed this news to her husband Lawrence he called Day to explain what his wife had just told him which was that “part of your mother, it’s alive” (Skloot 181). During this same time HeLa cells were causing a great contamination problem for labs across the world. It was vital that scientists contact the Lacks family to try and develop and identify genetic markers to identify which cells were Henrietta’s and which were not. This was going to involve her immediate family giving DNA samples to compare them to HeLa’s genes. One of the scientists stated that her family still went to Johns Hopkins, so it was not difficult to locate them. This was the beginning of an emotional time for the Lacks family because they were not fully informed about what was going on. It was especially hard on Deborah who assumed that she was going to get caner from the tests the doctors were giving her. Overall, this was a challenging time for the family and it was a life changing event for both them and the scientific community. 

Word Count: 237

Skloot, Rebecca. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" New York. Broadway Paperbacks, Crown Publishing, 2010. Print.

The Curious Contamination

Scientists knew that it was important to keep their cultures free of contamination, but "when it came to HeLa, they had no idea what they were up against. It turned out Henrietta's cells could float through the air on dust particles" (Skloot 153).

When geneticist Stanley Gartler, learned the racial origin of HeLa from Dr. Gey, it went on to create a huge effect in the scientific community. His discovery helped to show that it was in fact possible for cells to travel to other cultures very quickly. He was able to understand this process because of a rare genetic marker known as, G6PD-A which was only ever present in black Americans (Skloot 153). The HeLa cells were shown to transfer by unwashed hands, lab coats, shoes, and also research found that if just a single cell was to land on a different culture dish, it was strong enough to consume all that was there (Skloot 153). This finding by Dr. Gartler was presented at a conference which was not accepted with positive review because it meant that over a decade, scientists had spent millions of dollars on scientific research with only HeLa cells. This meant that all the time and effort spent growing and experimenting on the cells was a waste. After his discussion at the Cell Culture Collection Committee meeting, numerous scientists went back to their laboratories to test cells for the genetic marker to find out how big this problem could be. The overall factor across the world many of the cells tested positive with G6PD-A and this mass contamination became known as “the HeLa bomb” (Skloot 156).   

Word Count: 228

Skloot, Rebecca. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" New York. Broadway Paperbacks, Crown Publishing, 2010. Print.

The Incredible Advances In Scientific Development

"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." (Skloot, 92)

It is incredible how quickly cells can grow in a matter of weeks. To be able to produces trillions of HeLa cells from a sample taken from Henrietta is an outstanding number. Scientific research has come a long way since the largest polio epidemic in 1951. This was a frightening time for millions of families because there was a drastic need for a vaccine. During this time period “scientists were just beginning to understand viruses, so as Henrietta’s cells arrived in labs around the country, researchers began exposing them to viruses of all kinds.” (Skloot, 98) Her cells helped to create a huge difference in the scientific field. Numerous improvements were made especially regarding the topic of freezing cells without causing harm. This was a breakthrough because it allowed her cells to successfully transfer from one country to another without an alteration. It was known that HeLa was also being used in the field of human genetics, and as all of these developments kept progressing, the request for HeLa rose. I think it is incredible that Henrietta’s sample created such a spark in scientific research. The impact her cells have made to science has truly saved so many lives. 

Word Count: 200

Skloot, Rebecca. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" New York. Broadway Paperbacks, Crown Publishing, 2010. Print.

Doctors Deception

“Doctors often withheld even the most fundamental information from their patients, sometimes not giving them any diagnosis at all” (Skloot 63)

In the opening paragraphs of Chapter 8 "A Miserable Specimen," it begins with Henrietta returning to Johns Hopkins in early June complaining that the cancer was back, and spreading. She declared that she could feel it growing inside her body, but the conclusion her doctors came to was that nothing was wrong. One doctor stated that there was no factual evidence of any cancerous recurrence, and to return the following month. There is reason to suspect that Henrietta did not question her doctors’ opinions because during the 1950s, “this was a time when ‘benevolent deception’ was a common practice,” and numerous doctors gave the excuse that they did not wish to confuse their patients with material that they assumed could not grasp. (Skloot 63) I believe that this way of thinking is uncalled for, especially when dealing with matters such as a life threatening disease such as cancer. After weeks upon weeks of dealing with excruciating pain, doctors finally used an X-ray to examine Henrietta and what they found would be “Inoperable.” (Skloot 64) Unfortunately for Henrietta, the sadness of her situation only worsened until she finally decided to stay at the hospital, because her trips to and from Hopkins became unbearable.

Word Count: 202

Skloot, Rebecca. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" New York. Broadway Paperbacks, Crown Publishing, 2010. Print.