Piecing Together a Fragmented Understanding of Henrietta Lacks In the foreword to The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot discusses her efforts and struggles in attempting to capture and to present clearly the story and narrative of Henrietta Lacks. Skloot acknowledges in the Prologue that there is “no way of knowing exactly how many of Henrietta’s cells are alive today” (Skloot, 2). All of the numbers are estimates, guesses, or attempts, and the idea that there is no way of knowing for sure underlies much of the narrative. Worlds apart from Henrietta, the majority of the knowledge about her is partial, incomplete, or biased. Each statistic, article, or conversation about Henrietta or HeLa, however, is a continued attempt: an
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In a state of panic, Deborah relates all of her knowledge of HeLa to her cousin, pacing anxiously and nervously. Deborah goes into a stroke-like spasm as her cousin touches her and begins to preach, yelling aloud “’I REALIZE God that TONIGHT there’s just some things doctors CANNOT DO,’” to which Deborah responds “’Show me where you want me to go with these cells, Lord, please… just help me with this BURDEN’” (291, 292). Skloot employs this scene to evaluate how spiritual knowledge proves most effective and least burdensome for Deborah in her attempt to grasp HeLa. Deborah frequently became ill while attempting to understand and interpret various information about her mother, and in this scene that knowledge proves too much to bear. Religion here offers Deborah relief from her suffering. It is only after this spiritual intervention that Deborah is comforted and reempowered enough to move forward in her search for more information. In a scene that similarly evokes the reparative and reassuring qualities of spiritual knowledge, Deborah shares with Rebecca her wishes after death. “’Maybe,’” Deborah says, “’I’ll come back as some HeLa cells like my mother, that way we can do good together out there in the world’” (310). Skloot articulates this conversation as the conclusion of her narrative, after Deborah, Rebecca, …show more content…
Samples of Henrietta’s cervix were sent to Dr. George Gey’s laboratory for research, but none of the researchers were prepared for the discovery that they would make. “Henrietta’s cells weren’t merely surviving, they were growing with mythological intensity… They kept growing like nothing anyone had seen,” which led Dr. Gey to conclude that he had “grown the first immortal human cells” (40, 41). This was a revolutionary discovery for medical researchers, who had been trying for years to develop a culture medium or to cultivate a cell line that would reproduce and survive for substantial periods of time. Just weeks after Henrietta started radiation therapy, “Gey began sending Henrietta’s cells to any scientist who might use them for cancer research” (57). HeLa cells grew quickly and, thanks to Gey, spread just as quickly. Soon, Henrietta’s cells were around the world in “Texas, India, New York, Amsterdam, and many places between” (57). Gey’s research had an early, immediate, and undeniable impact on scientific knowledge, particularly within the context of the medical community. Skloot informs the reader that Gey’s work would enable the development of a Polio vaccine, flu medicines, and gene mapping and cloning. However, this would all occur unknown to, and without consideration of Henrietta and her family. Like HeLa cells, the
In a state of panic, Deborah relates all of her knowledge of HeLa to her cousin, pacing anxiously and nervously. Deborah goes into a stroke-like spasm as her cousin touches her and begins to preach, yelling aloud “’I REALIZE God that TONIGHT there’s just some things doctors CANNOT DO,’” to which Deborah responds “’Show me where you want me to go with these cells, Lord, please… just help me with this BURDEN’” (291, 292). Skloot employs this scene to evaluate how spiritual knowledge proves most effective and least burdensome for Deborah in her attempt to grasp HeLa. Deborah frequently became ill while attempting to understand and interpret various information about her mother, and in this scene that knowledge proves too much to bear. Religion here offers Deborah relief from her suffering. It is only after this spiritual intervention that Deborah is comforted and reempowered enough to move forward in her search for more information. In a scene that similarly evokes the reparative and reassuring qualities of spiritual knowledge, Deborah shares with Rebecca her wishes after death. “’Maybe,’” Deborah says, “’I’ll come back as some HeLa cells like my mother, that way we can do good together out there in the world’” (310). Skloot articulates this conversation as the conclusion of her narrative, after Deborah, Rebecca, …show more content…
Samples of Henrietta’s cervix were sent to Dr. George Gey’s laboratory for research, but none of the researchers were prepared for the discovery that they would make. “Henrietta’s cells weren’t merely surviving, they were growing with mythological intensity… They kept growing like nothing anyone had seen,” which led Dr. Gey to conclude that he had “grown the first immortal human cells” (40, 41). This was a revolutionary discovery for medical researchers, who had been trying for years to develop a culture medium or to cultivate a cell line that would reproduce and survive for substantial periods of time. Just weeks after Henrietta started radiation therapy, “Gey began sending Henrietta’s cells to any scientist who might use them for cancer research” (57). HeLa cells grew quickly and, thanks to Gey, spread just as quickly. Soon, Henrietta’s cells were around the world in “Texas, India, New York, Amsterdam, and many places between” (57). Gey’s research had an early, immediate, and undeniable impact on scientific knowledge, particularly within the context of the medical community. Skloot informs the reader that Gey’s work would enable the development of a Polio vaccine, flu medicines, and gene mapping and cloning. However, this would all occur unknown to, and without consideration of Henrietta and her family. Like HeLa cells, the