Fitness And Health

“The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks” is a great story of a medical break through – it is also the story of the Lacks family and how they intersected the break through. 

I had never heard of Henrietta Lacks and knew nothing of the cell technology that she became a part of.  Here is an amazing story of a simple woman and how she contributed to one of the most important medical science discoveries of our age.  It is also the story of Doctors and researchers that brought about the amazing discoveries.

In 1951 Doctors at Johns Hopkins took Henrietta Lacks cells while she was undergoing treatment for cervical cancer. That they did not have her consent remains a controversy but the cells launched a multi-billion dollar bio-tech industry.   The videos here are found on YouTube and are part of a program produced by the BBC.

Today, 60 years after her death, the cells live on and are credited first with helping to find the cure for polio and other diseases and they remain important in much of today’s medical research.  The cells are simply called HeLa after the first two letters of her first and last name.

At the same time that Henrietta Lacks was undergoing treatment at Johns Hopkins, a brilliant scientist named George Gey was doing research on growing various cells out of the body. It was something that no one had succeeded with before but with his technology and Henrietta’s cells it became a reality.

Presidents, the rich, and the Hollywood Ellette got into action, creating a forward momentum to cure cancer based on the promise of the technology from Henrietta’s cells.

Along the way Doctors learned they didn’t understand everything they thought they knew about the cells.  Because of careless errors Henrietta’s cells became part of other cell lines that Doctors tried to create.  This meant a complete work over of the cell handling methods and a restart of much research.  Henrietta’s cells seemed to take over the world.

Henrietta’s family began to learn of the importance of her cells but they found there was no legal claim to the fortunes that were created by the technology. 

At last though, they were able to establish a place for her in the history of medical science.   

In February 2010 Rebecca Skloot published a book about Henrietta.  It is comprehensive covering the technology, Henrietta and her families story, and how the technology that preserved her cells came to be.  The book is called “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.”  It is a well told story that perhaps bogs down in the last 1/3 of the book but still a great read.

Henrietta Lacks Related Articles

• Henrietta Lacks’s cells were priceless, but her family can’t afford a hospital(guardian.co.uk)
• Town Hall Tonight: Author Rebecca Skloot On The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (seattlest.com)
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and the evolving nature of medical consent. (slate.com)
• The Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks(neatorama.com)
• Book Talk: “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”(medgadget.com)
• Second Opinion: A Lasting Gift to Medicine That Wasn’t Really a Gift (nytimes.com)

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