Henrietta Lacks Book Report

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A non-fiction book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is about an African American woman who developed cervical cancer. While trying to diagnose her illness Johns Hopkins Hospital, got a sample of her tumor and sent to the culture lab. Inside the lab, George Guy harvests the cancerous cells that began to divide into hundreds of cells that became known as HeLa cells. The book is made up of hundreds of interviews that Rebecca Skloot accomplishes most of these interviews were of the Lacks family. The book picks up in chapter 33 Rebecca Skloot promise Deborah, Henrietta daughter several things one was seeing her mother cells and the other one was to find out what happened to Elsie Lacks, Deborah sister. The two go on a weeklong trip that started at Crownsville in hopes of finding Elise medical records when they arrived at Crownsville Hospital Center.(Skloot 268) They go inside the build and locate the medical records room which was empty no medical records. …show more content…

Skloot asks her if she is ok Deborah said, “This happens all the time,” “I’m fine. I just need some Benadryl” (Skloot 286). Deborah asks Skloot to take a picture of her holding two pictures of Elsie in front of Henrietta tombstone. The two then go to Gladys Lacks house, a small yellow cabin she is Henrietta sister. Deborah tells her that she’s is going to make a web page for her mother to get donations and funds to turn her old home- house into a museum. (Skloot 287)
In chapter 36 the next morning Deborah hives gone down, but she wants to go back to her house and to go see her doctor. Skloot stays behind to talk to Gary Lacks Deborah cousin; he begins to read passages from the bible. He said that lord chose Henrietta, to be immortal and then ask Skloot to read out loud from the bible. After reading some passages from the bible Skloot now understand why her family believes she was chosen to be immortal. (Skloot

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