Rebecca St. James

I've been reading the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. This book is about a black woman who died of a cervical cancer in 1951 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Doctors took a cell from her cervix without any consent of her or her family. Her cells are still alive today, growing and multiplying. After this event her family will never be the same. The family discovered it more than two decades later that part of Henrietta was still alive and has been…

In Rebecca Skloot’s book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, the author reveals a real-life story about the life of Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta Lacks was an African American woman who was diagnosed with a fast-growing cervical cancer at a very young age. The cells retrieved from her cervical tumor, later termed “HeLa”, became the first immortal cell that could survive in the lab and replicate continuously without dying. These cells later became key components to the development of many…

In Skloot’s (2010) book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, the author reveals the story about the life of Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman who was diagnosed with a fast-growing cervical cancer at a young age. The cells retrieved from her cervical tumor became the first immortal cell that could survive in the lab and replicate continuously without dying. Without the consent of Henrietta Lacks and her family, these cells later became key components to the development of many…

In class we were instructed to watch the 1997 Documentary on Henrietta Lacks, “The Way of All Flesh” that was directed by Adam Curtis and produced by Joe Duplantier. This documentary highlights the importance of Henrietta Lack’s cells in the science community and how they impacted the research that was being done on cancer cells. Henrietta Lack’s was a female African American who suffered from cervical cancer. She was one of the patients being treated by Dr. Guy and unfortunately she ended up…

immortality of HeLa cells was discovered. Such breakthrough caused an outburst in scientific development and the release of ways to cure millions of diseases, including, but not limited to, polio, cancer, leukemia, and hemophilia. Following this further, Rebecca Skloot is able to describe the person behind the HeLa cells and the interminable process that she had to go through in order to attain enough information to write about Henrietta Lacks and her immortal cells. Skloot’s utilization of…

During the mid 16th century, discrimination and social partition were known to a part of the common society. The book, The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, illustrates the life of a lady in that era, where she is strong and intelligent. She is one hero to discover new medicines and information for epidemics, like polio and virology, with her cells. However, her help in medical history is and still remains unnoticed by the majority due to their past history of discrimination and racism in the…

The Case of Belle Gibson In the following case study we see the negative effects of breaking down these barriers and not having the third party to censor the content that celebrities are publishing. Annabelle Natalie “Belle” Gibson is a 24 year old blogger who claimed to have battled cancer through alternative medicine. She fabricated stories about how she self-treated her cancer by dieting. She also invented a Smartphone Application and wrote a book about her “healthy lifestyle”. She spread…

Henrietta's family is popular in the health field, they cannot afford health insurance.. Rebecca writes about Henrietta's family being unwealthy even with their mothers popularity in health stating, “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?” (Skloot, The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, 2010, p. 168). Rebecca Skloot highlights the many forms of injustice brought upon Henrietta…

develop treatments for various genetic, chronic and difficult diseases. Rebecca Skloot became interested after hearing about these immortal cells as a student.. Her teacher mentioned how cell reproductions were, “…beautiful…like a perfectly choreographed dance.” (Skloot, 2010). However if there is a mistake, it can lead to variations and mutations such as cancer. In her book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” Rebecca Skloot uncovers the truth behind Henrietta’s story and also shares…

didn’t think they would do any wrong. That’s until they collected a sample of her cancer cells without her permission. This started a whole new world for the medical field and in the end was the sole reason for many medical breakthroughs. The author, Rebecca Skloot does an excellent job at retelling Henrietta’s story. Skloot adds in so many…