Henrietta Lacks part 2

Part Two of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, we learn both the fortunate and unfortunate outcomes of Henrietta's death. Her family did not speak of her, and the youngest children did not know much of anything about her. Henrietta's daughter, Deborah, was the most curious about who her mother was and what happened to her, but nobody would answer the questions she had. Day, Deborah's father, began dating Ethel, who abused her brothers and her. Joe was even sent to the hospital because of the intense beatings. Ethel's husband before Day began sexually abusing Deborah. Her father would go on to do nothing about it. Had Henrietta not fallen ill, leading to an early death, her children would have not been abused. Her identity was something of a mystery to scientists, but they yearned to know who the person was that provided these immortal cells. I feel sympathy for Henrietta's identity while reading this. Not only do the scientists using her cells lack the knowledge on who she is, but also her own family struggles to inform Skloot on the details of the person behind the name "Henrietta Lacks". Her cousin even mentions that her cells lived longer than her memory did. This echoes the frustration Bobbette feels when she states that nobody told their family anything, and so they went on struggling while Henrietta's cells were taken from her, without knowledge, and used for these medical research breakthroughs.

Reading this story humanizes Henrietta, and shows that her death had consequences for her children, all the while her cells were alive in laboratories across the nation. Those living cells led to breakthrough medical research, including the ability to prove the polio vaccine was safe and effective. My grandfather's brother worked on Dr. Salk's team in Pittsburgh. That makes a family member of mine a part of those who used Henrietta's cells. He is a part of those who gained from the use of those cells, while her family continued to struggle. The same cells that were taken from her living body, and the cells she did not know were going to be used. It puts into perspective the residual gains my family has probably made on account of that research, which also illustrates my privilege as a white, middle class American.