The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Book Report

In the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, the author demonstrates the harsh realities that many African Americans faced in the medical and scientific field during the mid 20th century. The author shows the unjust practices of this time period through interviews with the Lacks family and medical professionals. These harsh realities are proven when Skloot talks to Henrietta’s family. Henrietta’s husband, Day, explains how they took samples from Henrietta’s body without consent when Skloot writes, “Day clenched his remaining three teeth. "I didn't sign no papers," he said.

Shortly after this happened Henrietta died from the cervical cancer on October 4, 1951. It wasn’t until two decades later that Henriettas name was released to the press, and it wasn’t until even later in the 1990’s when Rebecca Skloot heard of HeLa cells and was interested why there was so little information about her. Skloot then comes into contact with Henriettas family and most importantly forms a bond with Deborah, Henrietta’s oldest daughter. This bond with Deborah was crucial to find out information of Henrietta. While researching the bond grows and Skloot realizes that Deborah just wants to learn as much as possible about her mother like she wants too (Skloot Deborah really just wants her mother’s story to be told and people to realize that there is a person behind all the

The problem was that cells often die quickly outside of the body. As you might guess, he was thrilled when he received a call offering him some cells from every woman patient with cervical cancer in exchange for trying to grow some cells. TeLinde began taking samples from every woman that walked into Hopkins with cervical cancer, including Henrietta’s. Henrietta’s tumor was invasive, and Hopkins treated all invasive carcinomas with radium; a white radioactive metal that glows blue. Radium destroys any cell it encounters, and patients who’d taken it in the past began dying.

She was then taken into John Hopkins and eventually her medication and treatments were discontinued. Her tumors by then had taken over most of her organs and the blackness as she says was spreading everywhere. Henrietta would eventually die on October 4th, 1951 at the age of 31 leaving her 5 children with her husband

Not wanting anyone to worry anymore about her, Henrietta didn't go to the follow-up appointments. Three months later she went back to the hospital with complaints of pain. There were tumors everywhere in her body. She was admitted to the hospital to stay until her death. She was in so much pain that she decided not to let her children in to see her.

Ultimately, I contend that all multitude of instances that the Lacks family was taken advantage of set the foundation for Deborah to trust Skloot. Unlike the other news reporters, authors, or doctors that approach the Lacks family, Skloot made an effort to connect with the family by spending time with Deborah’s cousin cliff, and walking Henrietta’s tobacco fields. Moreover, Skloot was one of the first writers that aimed to focus more on the Life of Henrietta, instead of HeLa cells. When Deborah first accepts Skloot, Skloot realizes that the media completely perplexed the Lacks family. Despite everything that had occurred, the Lacks family still did not have a defined understanding on what HeLa cells actually were and what they were used for.

Through Deborah’s observations she shows sorrow for the women held in

Rebecca Skloot develops the idea that poverty comes with many difficult situations, in the book, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks". True, Henrietta and her family were poor, could barely afford their medical bills, and they didn 't get the extended care that they deserved. You will learn how being poor can change your life and what is done with it . In the book, Henrietta 's daughter, Deborah, has many medical problems and she has to spend all her money on not even all her medicine.

Henrietta Lacks was a black tobacco farmer from the south who, in 1950, at the age of 30, she was diagnosed with aggressive cervical cancer. Lacks went to John’s Hopkins medical center for treatment for her cancer. In April of 1951, she underwent surgery to remove the larger tumor on her cervix. Henrietta Lacks, died three days following the surgery. Even though Henrietta Lacks died, her cells from the tumor have lived on and have made a major impact on the biomedical community.

Bushra Pirzada Professor Swann Engh-302 October 4th 2015 Rhetorical Analysis: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks written by Rebecca Skloot tells the story of a woman named Henrietta Lacks who has her cervical cancer. It further goes to tell the audience how Henrietta altered medicine unknowingly. Henrietta Lacks was initially diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951; however, the doctors at John Hopkins took sample tissues from her cervix without her permission. The sample tissues taken from Henrietta’s cervix were used to conduct scientific research as well as to develop vaccines in the suture.

About 24 years after there mothers death, Henriettas children were finally made aware of their mothers part in medical research. Leaving behind thousands of unanswered

Deborah said “ If I’m gonna do this, you got to promise me some things,” (Skloot 366) She stated “First you got tell everybody to get her name right. She ain’t no Helen Lane. And second, everybody always say Henrietta Lacks had four children. That ain’t

Cancer is one of the scariest diagnoses to go through or experience with a close family member or friend. Henrietta Lacks a black woman in the 50’s was diagnosed with cervical cancer little did she know her doctors stole her cells for research and never spoke about it. In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks you get to experience what the author. Rebecca Skloot goes through as she tries to figure out what happened with Henrietta Lack in the early 200’s Skloot gets in contact to get to know the situation better but the Lacks family knew little to none about Henrietta’s condition and the research that was being done to her revolutionary cells.

Her doctor collected cancerous cells and healthy cells from her cervix and gave them to the cancer researcher, George Otto Gey, who was trying to keep cells alive for more than a couple days. Henrietta endured intense radium treatments, but she still died at the age of 31, leaving her husband and five children behind. An amazing discovery was made Henrietta’s cell were immortal. Racism is prevalent in this book through the limited availability of healthcare, unethical behaviors of the doctors, and how racism affected her family. During this time, there was an extensive lack of medical care for colored people.

Despite the wrongdoings Henrietta Lacks was put through her cells did a lot to help advance science. Her cells helped develop different types of vaccines, which such as her daughter faced. A lot of good and bad came out of Henrietta’s