How The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

She is very vivid in describing the events happening, especially with her medical terminology. In addition, she captures the horror in Henrietta Lack’s condition to truly describe the magnitude of the situation. However, Skloot is most successful when she is met with the surviving members of the Lacks family. “Henrietta’s family – particularly Deborah – and their lifelong struggle to make peace with the existence of these cells, and the science that made possible,” (Skloot, 2010, pg7) catches the readers emotions to help understand another side of the story. Developing a major ethics debate, Skloot’s implementation of pathos reveals the heavy gravity behind the

Rebecca Skloot, however, used a different perspective in her portrayal of Lacks. This is evident in the way in which she conducted her research and the way she wrote the book. Skloot’s book, The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, included both the “scientific element concerns the origin and the subsequent uses of the HeLa cell line of cultured cancer cells” (Harper, 2011, p. 463) and the social and

Henrietta Lacks is not a common household name, yet in the scientific and medical world it has become one of the most important and talked names of the century. Up until the time that this book was written, very few people knew of Henrietta Lacks and how her cells contributed to modern science, but Rebecca Skloot aimed to change this. Eventually Skloot was able to reach Henrietta’s remaining family and through them she was able to tell the story of not only the importance of the HeLa cells but also Henrietta’s life.

The non-fiction book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, written by Rebecca Skloot, details the happenings and life of Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman and tobacco farmer who became a medical miracle in the 1950’s. The book is written in an attempt to chronicle both the experiences and tribulations of Henrietta Lacks and her family, as well as the events that led to, and resulted from, research done on Henrietta Lacks’ cells. Henrietta was a very average African American woman in this period; she had only a seventh-grade level education, and followed traditional racial and gender roles by spending her time has a mother and caretaker, as well as working on farms throughout her life until the involvement of the US in World War II brought her and her husband, “Day” Lacks, comparatively better work opportunities in industrial steel mills. However, after her death in 1951 Henrietta became much more than average to doctors at John Hopkins when the discovered that cells extracted from her cancerous tissue continued to live and grow much longer than any other tissue samples. Further investigation and isolation of these thriving cells led to the creation of the first ever immortal human cell line in medical history. The incredible progress in medicine made possible by Henrietta Lack’s tissue cells were not without downfalls, though. The treatments and experiences received by Henrietta and the effects it had on her and her family demonstrate both racial and gender

The book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” brings up a problem in society that was a serious obstacle in the field of medicine in the 1950’s. This problem is that the individual rights of a human versus the general need of humanity. The general need of humanity is much more important than the rights of a human.

Henrietta Lacks, a woman whose cells have made millions of dollars, but most people don’t know her name, or her story. “She’s usually identified as Helen Lane, but often she has no name at all. She’s simply called HeLa, the code name given to the world’s first immortal human cells – her cells cut from her cervix just months before she died. Her real name is Henrietta Lacks,” (Skloot 1). Through the last few months of her life, she had major struggles with hospitals and scientists. Henrietta was in serious pain throughout the last few months, and the doctor treated her as a specimen. “Henrietta is still a miserable specimen,” (Skloot 66). Another major flaw in Henrietta story is the fact that her family was barely told of her condition of cervical

Rebecca Skloot is an award writing author who’s book about the untold story of Henrietta Lacks was the New York Times Bestseller. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was published February 2 in 2010 by Crown Publishing Group. Skloot first heard about Henrietta Lacks in her community college biology class where her professor was teaching about cells and cell reproduction. At the time she was lost and confused about what she was learning in her biology class, but later on in life she would come to write about HeLa cells. She was so fascinated by the importance of Henriettas cells and all that her cells had allowed science to discover that Rebecca wanted to find out more about who the owner of the HeLa cells was.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is composed of three sections: life, death, and immortality. The first section, life, focuses on Henrietta’s life; from birth to death. Her struggles with cancer, her husband and children, and her strong personality are all included in this section. The second section, death, focuses on the events that happened after Henrietta herself passed away, the official cause of death being blood poisoning from a buildup of toxins. The third and final section, immortality, focuses on the immortality of HeLa cells and how they are still being used today, over sixty years later. Throughout the entire book the timeline is never from one year to the next. Skloot puts the book together in such a way that, although the timeline isn’t in order, the book still makes chronological sense. Through sections and chapters, Skloot paints a picture, not only of Henrietta’s life, but also of how she and her cells have influenced modern medicine.

After her death in 1951, for six decades, Henrietta Lacks did not exist in the eyes of the society, but her cells did. How? Well, the answer is quite simple. HeLa Cells are the first immortal human cells. These cells never die and multiply every twenty-four hours. After spending 10 years to perfect her first book, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot essentially captured the life, the death, and aftermath of Henrietta Lacks’ life. With controversial issues regarding science, ethics, race, and class Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey. From the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells, from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover,

Skloot had issues when it came to her education, but not because of a lack of intellect. Skloot was and is a perfect example for those looking to critique the American public education system. She had issues with the standard school system, and declared herself a “derelict” kid, and as a result had to repeat several grades. While learning at an “alternative” school, she took college classes, more specifically, a biology class. This class is where she first learned about the HeLa cell and Henrietta Lacks. Inspiration struck, and her life path was forever changed. Skloot became almost obsessed with Lacks, and little did she know that she would be forever associated with a wholly unrelated figure in medical history. Rebecca soon was off to a Portland community college, and after learning to become a veterinary technician, she gained her B.S in biological science from Colorado State University and her MFA in creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh. during her time in Colorado, she discovered her hidden talent for writing. Rebecca was encouraged to pursue her passions in both science and writing, and her fascination with Henrietta plus her talent with writing would soon guide her skills and non-existent stardom to new

When I first heard about the book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", I thought it was just a reading assignment when I was in high school that I had to complete for a grade. As I began reading I became particularly interested in Henrietta Lacks and the HeLa cells. In "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", Rebecca Skloot talks about Henrietta Lacks and how her cells were taken without her permission, and how her family suffered afterwards. Skloot shows how medicine and science were seen back in the 1950's compared to now.

The effect the discovery and creation of the HeLa cells made on the science community and Henrietta’s family had a domino effect. Both had different opinions and beliefs on the matter; this led to some difficult questions asked of the family and of the medical community. Due to the new and advanced methods of experimentation, the HeLa cells made to to the field of science, the scientific community and the media failed to remember that Henrietta and her family were not abstractions but actual people. Rebecca Skloot, however, took into account the Lack’s family, she inquired both the history of the HeLa cells as well as the Lacks family, treating them as actual people with inalienable rights.

This research paper is based on the findings from the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”. What you will read and come to know is nonfiction. I wish I could put the pictures of what I have seen and read together here for you to perhaps get a better understanding. A story based on not Henrietta’s life being that of immortality, but rather cancer cells removed from her body without her knowledge. These were the first cancer cells to reproduce outside of her body. You will come to know about Henrietta, her cancer, her cells, and her immortal life. Perhaps we can all learn to appreciate life in greater means of appreciation after reading and knowing the life and immortal afterlife of Henrietta Lacks. You will learn about a woman, who like us, had a family, and ended up not being able to truly live life to its fullest. Making us all realize just how cancer is and the amazing research that came from being able to reproduce her cells. Not just for cancer but for various other illnesses that plague so many of us. My hope is that you take away from this a better understanding of a time we do not know, for the ups and downs of science and the possibility of immortal life.

The book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, was a nonfiction story about the life of Henrietta Lacks, who died of cervical cancer in 1951. Henrietta did not know that her doctor took a sample of her cancer cells a few months before she died. “Henrietta cells that called HeLa were the first immortal human cells ever grown in a laboratory” (Skloot 22). In fact, the cells from her cervix are the most important advances in medical research. Rebecca was interested to write this story because she was anxious with the story of HeLa cells. When she was in biology class, her professor named Donald Defler gave a lecture about cells. Defler tells the story about Henrietta Lacks and HeLa cells. However, the professor ended his

“The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks” written by Rebecca Skloot exposes the truth about a colored woman, Henrietta Lacks, who died from cancer leaving five children and a husband behind. Before her death doctors took her cells,without her or her family consent, to do there own research and experiments. They discovered that her cells were immortal, they became the first immortal cells known as the HeLa cells..After the discoverment the Lacks family were never told that Henrietta Lacks cells were used, bought and sold. Through the HeLa cells the scientist had made money while Henrietta kids were mistreated and were in poor situations.It wasnt till 25 years later that the Lacks family found out about the HeLa cells doing miracles. Rebecca Skloot though “The immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” was able to explain the unethical situations that the Lacks family faced after Henrietta’s death.