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The birth of Immortal
Henrietta Lacks was born Loretta Pleasant in Roanoke, Virginia. No one knows exactly how she became Henrietta.Henrietta lived in a shack with her parents and eight older siblings until 1924, when her mother, Eliza Lacks Pleasant, died giving birth to her tenth child.
When Eliza died Henrietta's father Johnny Pleasant took them all back to Clover, Virginia, where his family still framed the tobacco fields their ancestors had worked as slaves. Noone could take all ten children so they were split. -
Family Divided
Henrietta ended up with her grandfather, Tommy Lacks. He lived in a log cabin that once served as slave quarters. The family who died where all buried in the cemetery in the back yard. Her grandfather was raising another child named David Lacks which became her husband. Neither Henrietta nor David finished school. David got until fourth grade while Henrietta stayed until Sixth. -
The Children of Immortal
Henrietta and David started to have children when Henrietta was 14 years old. First Lawrence four years later came Lucile Elsie Pleasant -
The marriage of Immortal
Henrietta and David married alone at their preacher's house -
The Diagnosis of Immortal
After her visit to Hopkins, Henrietta went about life as usual, cleaning and cooking for David and their children. Then, a few days later, Jones got her biopsy results from the pathology lab: "Epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix, Stage 1." -
The Treatment Of Immortal
Henrietta went straight to the admissions desk and signed a consent form that said: i hereby give consent to the staff of The Johns Hopkins Hospital to perform any operative procedures and under any anaesthetic either local or general that they may deem necessary in the proper surgical care and treatment of:
Dr. Lawrence Wharton Jr., took a dime sized sample of Henrietta's cervix. -
The birth of Immortal HeLa
Mary Kubicek was the assistant to Dr. TeLinde was the woman who prepped Henrietta's cells. while Henrietta spent the next two days in the hospital, recovering from her first radium treatment and soon was sent home. meanwhile Henrietta's cells were doubling everyday. -
The blackness of Immortal
after each treatment, Henrietta would change back into her clothes and walk the few blocks to Margaret's house, where she'd wait for day. soon the walk began to feel longer and longer. she had to take a cab just to get there. weeks later Henrietta lay on the couch, she lifted her shirt to show Margaret and sadie what the treatments had done to her. "lord, it just feels like that blackness be spreading all inside me." the skin from her breasts to her pelvis was charred a deep black. -
The Death and life of Immortal
three weeks after Henrietta started her treatment George Gey appeared on Television in Baltimore for a special show devoted to his work. Gey began to sending HeLa's Cells to any scientist who might use them for cancer research. -
The miserable life of Immortal
in early June, Henrietta told her doctors several times that she thought the cancer was spreading. But her doctors told her nothing was wrong. This was 1951 in Baltimore, segregation was law, and it was understood that black people didn't question white people's professional judgment. many black patients were just glad to be getting treatment. -
The death of Immortal
Henrietta lacks dies October 4, 1951
she left behind a husband and children. Sadly her children were left to pick up the pieces. They never knew how important the life of their mother was. While George made money off of HeLa the children saw none of it. The life of Henrietta's children went to hell after the death of their mother. And none of them every recovered. And none of them ever trusted Johns Hopkins again. -
The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks
Rebecca Skloot found a passion in Henrietta's story. And wrote a best selling book about it. it is also where i got all of my information to get the most accurate details. Rebecca spent a lot of time with her family and friends getting the real story and after effect of Henrietta's life and death. The book was later made into the book with the same title as the book. Henrietta's life will forever life on.
