Henrietta Lacks: The Mother of Modern Medicine

HENRIETTA LACKS

The Mother Mother of Modern Medic Medicine ine

Behind The Cell

The HeLa line is the best-known source of cells that have been used extensively in medical research since the 1950s. HeLa cells were taken from a young woman named Henrietta Lacks. The cells taken from her body without her knowledge and used to create this line of cells which would soon change the world of medicine.

Henrietta Lacks was born Loretta Pleasant in Roanoke, Virginia on August 1,1920. After the death of her mother in 1924 she was sent to live with her grandfather where she shared a room with her cousin David Lacks. In 1935, Henrietta and David had a son, Lawrence, and in 1939, had a daughter, Elsie. The couple married in 1941 and moved to Baltimore, Maryland where they had three more kids: David Jr., Deborah, and Joseph. Her daughter, Elsie, was developmentally disable and they placed her in the Hospital for the Negro Insane. On January 29,1951, Henrietta went to John Hopkins for abnormal pain and bleeding in her abdomen. Physician Howard Jones quickly diagnosed. Her with cervical cancer. During her radiation treatment doctors removed two cervical samples from her without her knowledge. She died at age 31, on October 4, 1951 at John Hopkins.

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This is an orginal photo of Henrietta and David Lacks. To this day Henrietta only has two photo in which the world has seen.

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This is the caption for this page umm fun factsss lmaoooo!

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The Cell’s Contrubition

The cells taken from Henrietta ‘s tumor made their way to the laboratory of researcher Dr. George Gey. He noticed an unusual quality in her cells unlike most cells, which survive only a few days, Henrietta ‘s were far more durable.

With this he isolated and manipulated a specific cell creating a cell line, HeLa, which was derived from the name Henrietta lacks. With this new discovery, Gey shipped it out to thousands of medical facilities around the world. The HeLa strand revolutionized medical research. The HeLa strand developed the polio vaccination, which is now currently 99% of the way eradicated globally.

The HeLa strand also improved cell culture practices, helped develop techniques for staining and counting chromosomes, has greatly impacted genome mapping, and has developed the vaccine for human papilloma virus (HPV) and so much more.

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Rebacca Skloot wrote the story about Henrietta with the help of Deborah Lacks. Rebacca faced many challenges, which she talks about in the book but finally get the Lacks family to trust her with the infromation about Henrietta. Unfortunately, Deborah passed away days before the book was published in 2010.

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The top picture is of Deborah Lacks and Rebecca Skloot. The bottom picture is the remaining Lacks family with Rebecca Skloot.

Where She Stands

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Henrietta has been recognized in many different ways. she’s been given a day, she has annual lectures, she’s had a high school in Baltimore Maryland named after her, she’s in the women’s Hall of Fame in Maryland and she even has a minor planet in the main astroid belt named in honor of her. but finally in 2018 a portrait was made by Kadir Nelson which hangs in the national portrait Gallery and the national Museum of African-American history and culture.

“She stands with her beautifully manicured hands crossed, covering her womb (the birthplace of the immortal cell line) while cradling her beloved Bible (a symbol of her strong faith). Her deep red dress is covered with a vibrant floral pattern that recalls images of cell structure and division.” Other symbolism includes her bright yellow hat, which functions as a halo, her pearls as a symbol of the cancer that took her life, and the repeated hexagonal wallpaper pattern, a design containing the “Flower of Life,” an ancient symbol of immortality and exponential growth. The buttons missing from her dress reference the cells that were taken from her body without her permission” -Kadir Nelson

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The monument I had in mind would be it would be an actual statue of her with the plaque on the front side explaining who she is. The second third and fourth sides of each box would have the map of all of the contributions that the cells have given to the medical research world. The statue would be of her famous photo with her hand on her hip in her dress with her big bright smile.

Where She Should Be!

Although Henrietta has been recognized in all these beautiful ways, she has yet to have a physical monument. My idea for a monument would be placed on the George Mason University in Fairfax Campus in Peterson Hall. I chose Peterson hall because it is our universities College of Health and Human Services, and Henrietta has helped in the health community as well as human services even though it was involuntary. Also, I feel as though another place my monument should stand is at John Hopkins University medical campus due to the fact that they have yet to make a Monument for her. I chose Hopkins because this is where it all started yet she still missing from their campus. They have talked about naming a research building in honor of her twice but have yet to do it.

“Through her life and her immortal cells, Henrietta Lacks made an immeasurable impact on science and medicine that has touched countless lives around the world,�

-Ronald J.Daniels