Henrietta Lacks was born August 1st, 1920, in Roanoke,, Virginia. Some time after 1941, Henrietta and her husband moved to Maryland and then went on to have five children. On February 1st, 1951, HenriettaLackss walked into John Hopkins Hospital experiencing abdominal pain and bleeding. Doctors removed two cervical samples from Lacks without her knowledge, and later diagnosed her with cervical cancer. Eight months later, Henrietta Lacks had lost her battle to cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital, leaving her family devastated.
What Henrietta’s family didn’t know was that laboratory researcher Dr George Otto Gey had found something especially unusual with Henrietta’s cells. Normally, these cells could only last for a couple of days;, however, Henrietta’s cells were multiplying every 20 hours, a breakthrough for science. Henrietta’s cells became known as the HeLa strain, assisting in vaccines for diseases like Polio, gaining an international demand for HeLa cells.
While researchers from all over the world studied and experimented with Henrietta’s cells, her family remained completely oblivious to this circumstance until 1970. It wasn’t until August of 2013 that the Lacks family gained recognition in scientific papers by the National Institute of Health regarding HeLa cells. It took 10 more years until the Lacks family reached a confidential settlement with a company in Massachusetts selling HeLa cells without the family’s consent.
Thanks to HeLa cells, scientists have been able to extend research on radiation, viruses, poisons, and even contribute to the COVID-19 vaccine, all without human testing. Although it took until Henrietta’s 103rd birthday for her family to receive some kind of compensation for her infinite contribution to science, her cells continue to make a positive impact on our world as we know it.
Adapted from sites below by MLK Action Team student intern Sammy Stewart
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/henrietta-lacks
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a60453674/henrietta-lacks-and-hela-cells/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=mgu_ga_pop_md_pmx_prog_org_us_18343789675&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=18343834699&gbraid=0AAAAADCyiSk7Jf0O3CiX1YnkGwj3ipaGV&gclid=CjwKCAjw7vzOBhBxEiwAc7WNr322P63L4uiAlkw9xqyy5v55yYGXhfoaRSDGhxtLolON9AyYfrs5FxoCU0IQAvD_BwE