Henrietta Lacks Research Paper

The Legacy of Henrietta Lacks

A legacy is something that makes a significant change in future generations, that is passed down to future generations whether it would be an idea or an object. The names of those people who passed these legacies remain unforgetten. Although, not everyone’s legacies are recognized until someone decides to publicize that information. Unfortunately, one of those people is Henrietta Lacks, who made an incredible legacy. In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a nonfiction novel by Rebecca Skloot is about Henrietta Lacks who made a legacy that significantly improved modern medicine in the world. Her cells which are cancer cells that replicated around her cervix made cell testing easier, since her cells were able to reproduce in a lab and the other cells died. These were called HeLa cells but no one knew

the person who had produced these cells except for the scientists that knew about her cervical cancer. To make her name known, someone had to have shared her legacy and the contributions that were made from her cells. That person was Henrietta Lack’s daughter, Deborah Lacks. Deborah Lacks had made a huge contribution to her mother’s legacy by finding more information about her mom and by sharing to Skloot more information about Henrietta’s life in order to make her mother’s legacy more known.
When Deborah Lacks was a toddler her mother died. Therefore, she knew little about her mother. She was far too young to know what Henrietta even looked like which motivated her to learn more about her. When she asked her father about Henrietta, Day would reply ‘“Her name was Henrietta Lacks, and she died when you was too young to remember’” (Skloot 87). Deborah was desperate to get more information about her mom. When Deborah was twenty-three she was being tested for cancer and “She started asking Day a lot of questions about Henrietta: ‘How’d she get sick? What happened when she died? What did those doctors do to her?’ and Day would just tell her ‘[The doctor] took her into Hopkins, they started doing treatments, then her stomach turned black as coal and she died”’ (135). However, Deborah wondered what cancer her mom had and the treatment she received and unfortunately no one in her family had answers. When she was getting tested she asked doctor McKusick about her mom. Then she finally found out that her cells were used for the polio vaccine and genetic research (para. 136). She was so desperate that she had signed a request form for someone named Cofield to look at the medical records of her mom. She was deceived but luckily the staff suspected him (para. 166). When there was a plan to build a museum to spread awareness about her mom, Deborah only agreed to do this because she wanted to find more information about her mom. Skloot had been writing a book about her mom and Deborah finally decides to share information. The only thing she cared about was what happened to her mom.
Although many medical and scientific advances were made without the help from Deborah, she still helped by shedding some light to Henrietta’s story.

She would be able to provide information to Rebecca about her mother’s life. Many of the records of Henrietta’s appointments were hidden. Until Deborah shed light into her mother’s treatment, none of the records would have been known. She gave these records to Skloot. “At several points during the day, Deborah said I should take her mother's medical records into my hotel room when we stopped for the night” (203). She also wanted her mother’s story to be under the correct name. The world only knew Henrietta for her cells and they would only know her as HeLa or Helen Lane. However, no one knew anything about Henrietta Lacks. “‘First, if my mother is so famous in science history, you got to 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 right, she had five children”’ (170). Her mother’s stories and the medical records are the contributions that Deborah made in order to make her mother’s legacy

known.
It is important to note however, that legacies do not revolve around one person. Deborah was an important individual who had an effect on Henrietta’s legacy. Without her, how would Skloot be able to publish a book without knowing the life of Henrietta Lacks? Furthermore, Deborah wanted to receive credit for her mother’s legacy. In a BBC documentary, Deborah was able to gain credit for Henrietta when Adam Curtis interviewed her (para 160). Deborah and Skloot contributed to a lasting legacy of Henrietta Lacks.
The contributions made by Deborah are important for a lasting legacy of Henrietta Lacks. Through her determination of looking for records and giving it to Skloot, she was able to make her mother more known. People would have known Henrietta Lacks only for her cells and as HeLa or Helen lane, but not for the person she was. People would have not known about what had happened to Henrietta Lacks if Deborah did not look for her mother’s medical records. Because of Deborah’s contributions, she contributed to one legendary legacy of Henrietta Lacks.