How Does Henrietta Lacks Affect The Beauty Of Life?

Improved Essays
The beauty of life lies in the little things that we do each day that create special and remarkable memories. The mystery of life will be the moment we are gone from this world which make every instant worth living for. According to Grace Halden, immortality has not yet been achieved for humans, but many have sought immortality in various ways as did a Chinese Emperor who once ingested mercury in the hopes that it would lead him to an eternal life. (Halden 4) One would not think that dying is the key to immortality and that was the case for Henrietta Lacks. After long time of avoiding her medical conditions, Lacks decided to finally visit the doctor and the discovery that came with her treatment would become the cure to a disease that claimed …show more content…
She was not aware of what scientists had done to her body during her treatment, but if there was a slight chance she had known and declined, a cure would not have been developed.
The discovery of what scientists found in Henrietta Lacks would become the key to creating a vaccine for the polio virus disease. Henrietta’s discovery allowed a field and understanding of virology and a vaccine that would have the potential to eradicate the polio virus disease and further examine the cause of HPV amongst other sexually transmitted diseases that Henrietta had contracted. Despite controversy on the violation of her rights due to doctors taking her cells without consent, once the cells are outside the body they have no ownership and doctors should have no backlash for doing research that gives a better understanding for diseases on humans.
It was a rainy day outside the John Hopkins Hospital where a family would await for their
…show more content…
(Oldstone 183) In order to prove the vaccine was successful, the largest epidemiologic study ever was conducted in children. In study #1 440,000 children were given the vaccine versus 210,000 children whom were only given a placebo as the control group. In study #2 there would be 1.8 million children that were the control group as they would remain unvaccinated to test the success of the vaccine given in study #1 and two years later, the NFIP would find out that the vaccine was successful and safe. (Kukaswadia 4) Jonas Salk was able to mass produce and distribute the vaccine with HeLa cells and the NFIP was able to widely test the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine with the help of Gey’s discovery of the first immortal cell line without spending millions of dollars. In fact, the NFIP would not have been able to begin testing the vaccine without HeLa cells as monkeys would die in the process and they needed something that would not be killed by the virus. Another contribution of HeLa cells was being able to test viruses with the cells as was the case with polio that led to the creation of a

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Sadly, Deborah Lacks died before her mother’s story was published and could be told to the world (Dahlgren & Duster, 2017). The Lack’s family has since shown great concern from other’s profiting from Henrietta’s life. Rebecca Skloot wrote a book and movie about Henrietta’s life entitled, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Skloot, 2010). Ms. Skloot used the book and movie profits to start the Henrietta Lacks Foundation in 2010. The foundation has been attributed to allowing several of Henrietta’s family members to attend college and even acquire degrees (The Henrietta Lacks Foundation, 2010).…

    • 868 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The blatant mistreatment of African Americans and other minorities had distinct effects on their families and lifestyles led by the racist facilities who withheld treatment and services, the degrading occupations they were given, and the attitude of people around them, all contributed to what generally became a ruinous lifestyle. The book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, tells the family history behind the famous HeLa cells and follows the mistreatment of Henrietta and her family over the years. Many blacks were affected detrimentally by the obvious difference in status throughout the nation, and rather than united, it was divided they stood. On January 29, 1951, Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer at…

    • 270 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot first presents us with various descriptions about HeLa cells, such as “immortal” and “never dies”. Thus, these distinct attributes that tremendously prolonged the life of of HeLa cells make the cells become one of the most significant tools in medical fields, such as cancer treatment, vaccine development, etc. As a person who learned biology in the past, Skloot knew the facts about HeLa cells, and they conduce to the whole world; nevertheless, Skloot found that there was not a single trace about the background of the person who owned the cells and the sole information people know is her name, Henrietta Lacks. Driven by her curiosity about the origin of HeLa cells and Henrietta Lacks,…

    • 1321 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebbeca Skoolt, who’s a journalist, was in college when she learns information about Henrietta Lacks, and African American woman, who died in 1951, from cervical cancer. Some years later, she heard about the name again and was so curious that she decided to do research on this woman. Rebecca later learns that Henrietta’s cancerous cells were the first to become the first human cell line, called HeLa. After doing some research Rebecca later learned that in the 21 century, HeLa made some of the most important discoveries. Even so, little was known about Henrietta Lacks…

    • 887 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The recognition of Henrietta Lacks was nonexistent until the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was written…

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Henrietta Lacks Thesis

    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Even after Henrietta had died, her cells were still alive. They were transported all over the world and became known as the HeLa cells. The HeLa cells led to improvements in medicine such as vacines for polio and HPV and development of a clause that claimed that any personnel of a hospital has to have permission from the patient or the relatives of the patient to take any cells, blood, or tissue from the patient. While private labs were making millions off of Henrietta's cells, her relatives knew nothing of them for 20 years and they never received any money. Henrietta Lacks is a remarkable person whose cells have completely changed the path of science and medicine.…

    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Henrietta Lacks Case

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages

    After the cells had been removed, Lacks and her family did not know that some cancerous and non cancerous cells were sent out to be tested. Lacks' cancerous cells were then cultured and turned into the first immortal life. On October 4, 1951, Henrietta Lacks passed away not knowing about or reaping any benefits from the super cells that had been taken from her body. Years later, Lacks' family was still unaware of the medical significance of Henrietta's cells, no profit was received was received from them (Watson). Henrietta Lacks story is just one example of tissue use without consent.…

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    However despite the horrifying stories they heard, when they really needed it African Americans did not have many other options because Hopkins was the only hospital around that would treat them. Also, during this time people everywhere and not just African Americans often did whatever the doctors said and would never truly question the honesty or ethical standing of any. With these two things in mind, Henrietta did what she needed to do and sought care at Hopkins. However, it would become clear that the tissue doctors would take from her cervix, grow to use in research, and eventually sell for a profit was not donated from Mrs. Lacks but instead was simply taken. Skloot quoted Bobbette Lacks in her book saying, “Everybody always saying Henrietta…

    • 1222 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In 1950’s Maryland, segregation was at it’s height-Jim Crow laws were in effect, schools were separate but equal, and the Klu Klux Klan had a mainstream following. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, a black woman, whose cancer cells were taken from her without her permission. Though her lifespan only amounted to 31 years, the effect of her immortal cells will last an eternity. Although Henrietta was an African American woman, she received the best treatment available for her cancer at the time; however, her race affected her life greatly. Contrary to popular beliefs, Henrietta Lack’s race had little effect on her cells and the way she was treated in the hospital, in fact, she was given the best treatment that was available at the time.…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Henrietta Lacks was born in 1920, and died 31 years later in 1951. When researchers took samples of Henrietta 's cervix while she was still alive, they found that her cancer cells were growing 20 times faster than her normal cells. Scientists like George Gey wanted to find a way in which cancer cells could be fought. He sent Henrietta 's cells to other scientists who would be able to use it for research. HeLa cells were used to diagnose genetic diseases, fight polio, and create vaccines.…

    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The History Of Hela Cells

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Henrietta Lacks was a 30- year - old black mother of five when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951. She went to Johns Hopkins hospital to have the tumor looked at; they took a sample and sent her home. A few weeks later, when Dr. Lawrence Wharton Jr. was prepping Henrietta for treatment he took two samples from her one from the tumor and one from her healthy cervix. He never asked Henrietta if he could take these samples from her. Dr. Wharton Jr. took the samples down to Dr. Gey’s lab; he got excited but thought the cells would just die like all the rest.…

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    HeLa was vital to cloning research, counting the number of chromosomes in a human cell, and the polio vaccine. HeLa refers to a cell line that given a endless supply of nutrients can divide forever. In this way, they are considered to be “immortal.” These cells are so prominently used in scientific research that if lined up, HeLa cells would circle the Earth more than three times. But where did these cells come from?…

    • 901 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Dilemma With Vaccines

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In doing so Jenner verified his hypothesis that once someone is colonized with the disease, one becomes immune to that specific disease. This was the beginning to modern day vaccines. (DiMaio, 2016) Immunizations have continued to advance and develop since Jenner’s amazing discovery. Today, there are multiple diseases and illnesses that are being eliminated and eradicated due to the continued development of vaccines.…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Lacks was the perfect defenseless target because she simply did not understand what was occurring therefore she could not question what the doctors were doing to her. Ultimately Henrietta died from cervix cancer, however her cells that were taken from her did not die. They became known as HeLa cells and earned doctors billions of dollars without her family even aware that she was such an important person in science. After Henrietta Lacks died, doctors began to narrow in on her family to discover more about HeLa…

    • 1566 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is the story of a lower class, poor tobacco farmer, Henrietta Lacks who unknowingly has helped millions of people, after her death. Henrietta Lacks had discovered that a small “knot” in her stomach area, was actually cervical cancer, but the novel does not focus on her cancer, rather it focuses on her life, death, the issues her family faced with the medical field, and how her cells have saved the lives of millions of people. This novel is split into three individual sections, Life, Death, and Immortality, which all cover different aspects of Henrietta’s story. The first and second parts of this novel, Life and Death, are pretty similar to the novels and stories that we have read in class, especially Beloved.…

    • 1546 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays