The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecka Skloot
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was published 2010, written by a journalist named Rebecka Skloot. Skoolt had a slight obsession with Henrietta’s life and from this came one of the best books I’ve read in years. In this novel, Rebecka documents the life, death and afterlife of Mrs. Henrietta Lacks. An African America woman who unknowingly handed over her cells to science and practically saved the world we know today. It all started with a flashback from the first time Henrietta went to Johns Hopkins hospital January 29th in 1951. Prior to her visit she had noticed a strange “knot” within her womb and after several months of discomfort, she had finally decided to visit a doctor. I know that “I told you so” is completely insensitive for a …show more content…
It’s common sense, a strange lump is always a bad sign. Although this particular lump was unique, even to the examining doctor Howard Jones. He described it as “shiny and purple like grape jello”. (Henrietta Lacks, p. 36) That “knot” Henrietta felt inside her was Epidermoid Carcinoma of the cervix and it was at stage I. Now this is where the plot thickens. The doctor administering her radiation treatments was Richard W. TeLinde, of whom was still configuring cures for cervical cancers. Which to me this bit of information suggested that Henrietta was doomed, more than likely to die regardless of how fast or slow her cancer grew. Along with being unsure of how to “cure” cancer. Dr. TeLinde was also incredibly deceitful, he had a habit of using women patients suffering from cervical cancer for his research without first gaining their consent. So when Henrietta walked into his office colored, uneducated and suffering cervical cancer, he took full advantage. She was told to sign a form of consent before getting her first procedure of radiation. Signing this form also meant she was handing over her right to deny the doctor from collecting her specimen
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot
1695 Words | 7 PagesIn her work, Skloot reveals Henrietta Lacks to be an African-American woman whose cervical cells were biopsied without her consent. These cells, known as HeLa (a combination of Lacks first and last name), have since been shared among various scientists and researchers and been the framework for ground-breaking research. Unlike other works on Henrietta Lacks, Skloot set out to tell
Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot
391 Words | 2 PagesHeLa was an immortal line of cells that led to many scientific discoveries. The book “The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks” has many different points you can view from. The book shows how history changed over time, how being African American and poor gets you no rights to privacy, and most importantly how medicine advanced because of Henrietta’s cells. Henrietta was one of ten children. Her mother died while giving birth in a barn.
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot
461 Words | 2 PagesSo even though Lacks’ is dead her cells aren’t. That’s the main focus point and title of the book comes from. “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” is a non-fiction book narrated by the author Rebecca Skloot. Skloot’s inspiration of this book came from a biology class she took.
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks
577 Words | 3 PagesDana Garcia Ripley Honors English 2 20 March 2017 Lack of Justice The book The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot tells the story of an African American woman named Henrietta Lacks whose cells made one of the greatest medical contributions ever. Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer at the age of 31. Cells were taken from her body without her knowledge. Rebecca L. Skloot is a self-employed science writer who specializes in science and medicine.
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot
1629 Words | 7 PagesThe book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” written by Rebecca Skloot revolves around an African American woman who began life as a poor tobacco farmer, but soon after being diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951 would unknowingly become one of the most important people in history. Unfortunately many would come to simply know her as “HeLa” the first “immortal” human cell line instead of another human being who had the right to know what doctors would soon do to her. She was strong woman and great mother to five unique children; Elsie, Lawrence, David (Sonny), Deborah, and finally Zakariyya (born Joe). The story itself tends to transition between the past and the present day. It gives us the story from both the perspective of Henrietta’s
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot
722 Words | 3 PagesRebecca skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, spent almost a decade gathering research in order to display Henrietta Lacks’s true story in writing. Skloot first found out about Henrietta Lack’s in her science college course at the age of sixteen. After hearing a brief description of Henrietta, with very little information, Skloot had some questions for her professor. When Skloot’s professor did not have any answers for her regarding Henrietta, she decided to take it upon herself to find out everything she could about Henrietta and her family. Skloot dedicated her life to researching Henrietta and the Lack’s family when there was no information about them.
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot
1631 Words | 7 PagesThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, her family, and researchers who have exploited her cell line under the name of advance in medical research. In 1951, when Henrietta Lacks was treated for cervical cancer at John’s Hopkin hospital, a physician collected her cervical cancer cells and handed to a researcher without proper process of informed consent. In a research lab, her cancer cells were harvested and disseminated to other labs. Henrietta’s cancer cells become the first immortal human cell line and became widely used for scientific research. When her cell lines were sold by billions throughout the entire country and HeLa cells became popular research tools in the scientific community,
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot
1150 Words | 5 PagesSkloot saw the importance of honoring who Henrietta was as a person not just wats he did for science. Skloot knew that the word needed to see who Henrietta was, not only as the woman behind the immortal cells, but a woman who impacted the lives of many around her: she said, “for me, its writing a book and telling people about this story.” Rebecca Skloot is stil pursing the hope of people knowing the backstory of Henrietta and how she made a difference in the world before her cells were even
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot
1996 Words | 8 PagesThis nonfiction book The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks was written by Rebecca Skloot. Skloot gives us a glimpse of the life of a young African American woman Henrietta Lacks as she briefly went through the healthcare system with cervical cancer in the 1950s. While Henrietta is the main character of this book, Skloot also highlighted the racial disparities in the healthcare sector and other industries at the time and painting a vivid picture of dying communities and the struggles of the descendants of Henrietta Lacks. Although, a lot of the book is about Henrietta Lacks, it is also about her daughter Deborah learning more about her mother and finding out the truth about her aunt Elsie. Henrietta was a mother of five who sort medical attention
Argumentative Essay On Henrietta Lacks
649 Words | 3 PagesHenrietta Lacks is the first African American woman to have the first immortal cells. She was born August 1, 1920 and grew up in Virginia with her six siblings. Henrietta is most known for her cell line used by thousands of scientist across the world. Today people refer to her cells as HeLa cells, this is short for Henrietta Lacks. Scientist could not understand how her cells became immortal.
Rhetorical Analysis: The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks
989 Words | 4 PagesBushra 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.
Henrietta Lacks Thesis
1020 Words | 5 PagesAbout 24 years after there mothers death, Henriettas children were finally made aware of their mothers part in medical research. Leaving behind thousands of unanswered
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks
817 Words | 4 PagesIn 1951 Henrietta omplained of a “knot in her uterus” and went to John Hopkins Hospital, a charity hospital for the poor and black, to get it checked out. Her doctor diagnosed the hard lump as cervical cancer and started radiation treatments immediately. Because of the cancer Henrietta couldn’t take care of Elsie, her oldest female child that epilepsy with her other four children. So Henrietta sent Elsie to the Crownsville State Hospital or, hospital for the negro insane until she died a little while after her mother at the age of 15. During one of her surgery’s, her doctor secretly took a slice of her tumor and gave it to Dr. George Gey, a scientist who was trying to find an “immortal cell”. Not only did Gey find what he was looking for, he found cells that grew at an abnormal rate.
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Rhetorical Analysis
770 Words | 4 PagesHenrietta Lacks The purpose of Rebecca Skloot’s book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” is to tell the story of Henrietta Lacks, her illness, and how she completely changed science without even knowing it. Henrietta Lacks, a name that had been known to the world only as HeLa up until recent years; the first two letters of a name that belonged to a poor African American tobacco farmer. Henrietta Lacks was a woman who died of cervical cancer in 1951 and HeLa, the line of cells taken from Henrietta that were the first line of cells to reproduce and survive in the lab indefinitely.
Racism In The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks
743 Words | 3 PagesHer 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.
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