The 1950s was an eventful decade.
The Vietnam War had begun and Japan had finally broken free of the hold that the US had on its government and territory. The decade also marked the death of celebrated Indian painter Abanindranath Tagore and the birth of captain Sully Sullenberger, to whom many Americans owe their lives.
However, politics, wars, and famous personalities aside, this decade marked a few other events that, at the time, went unnoticed in the public eye.
The story of the enigma that was Henrietta Lacks is one of them.
The year is 1951 and Henrietta Lacks has been feeling off for a while. She visits John Hopkins Medical Centre, which was the only hospital that treated people of colour at the time. Upon seeing a gynecologist, she was diagnosed with a kind of cervical cancer and was prescribed radium treatment for recovery.
It was during this treatment that cancer cells from her cervix were taken without her consent and sent to Dr. George Gey, who was a medical researcher testing the life span of human cancer cells outside of the body. To him, those cells were the start of a breakthrough.
To Henrietta, they were cells that belonged to her, taken from her, without her consent. In fact, Lacks never even found out about this. She died shortly after her diagnosis and left the world with no knowledge of what was stolen from her.
Her family grieved her and her friends missed her, but not a single one of them knew that a piece of her was still living, and would grow and live for years to come.
The only people who knew the real identity of the person who was known as “HeLa” were the ones who worked with George Gey. It was in 1975, nearly 25 years after Henrietta’s death, that her living family members found out, through a journalist, about her unknowing involvement in the HeLa cell theory.
They found out how her cells were taken and to whom they were given. They found out how they had been sold for money and traded internationally. They found out about the impact that it had on modern medicine. They found out how George Gey was reaping the benefits of his “revolutionary theory,” while they were working hard for each penny earned and living in poverty. But most of all, they found out how, in 1951, cells were stolen from the body of a black woman.
This brings us to a question- What was so special about Henrietta’s cells that people took them from her without her consent?
To answer this, let’s go back further in time. In 1933, newly minted doctor George Gey had just taken 8 whole years to complete his M.D. As he started to practice medicine, he worked with cancer patients and began to desperately search for the answer to a question that we are still asking- how can we cure cancer?
He had a few theories but no encouragement from his supervisors. So, he quit his job and started his own research centre which collected and studied the lifespan of cancer cells coming from people of various backgrounds.
This is what led him to Henrietta.
In 1951, when Henrietta was getting her radium therapy done, the doctor treating her cells unethically collected them from her cervix and sent them to Gey. Upon receival, Gey followed standard procedure with the cells and treated them as any other. However, a few weeks into the experiment, he realised that the cells labelled “HeLa’ were actually multiplying by themselves!
This is what was so special about Henrietta’s cells- their ability to survive outside of their host body.
These cells multiplied for years and years, and when revealed to the public, they played a huge role in the formulation of cures and vaccines for many diseases, including COVID-19.
Henrietta’s cells have helped save millions of lives all around the world and continue to do so to this date. The discovery was also worth millions.
And the Lacks family doesn’t have a dime to show for it.
The HeLa cell theory is revolutionary, that much is true. But is it really ethical? From the facts presented in front of me, and especially considering the long history of black women being exploited for science experiments, I don’t think so.
It is so easy for researchers and doctors to forget that the cells in question didn't belong to HeLa, the experiment. They belonged to Henrietta, the person.
It’s unfortunate that, to this day, many people still don’t know what HeLa stands for. They aren’t aware of the life or even the name of the person from whose cells they are profiting.
At this point, Henrietta’s family isn’t as concerned about getting the money that they deserve as they are about the recognition that Henrietta deserves to get.
All over the world, people know HeLa, but not Henrietta.
Say the name, not the acronym.
Henrietta Lacks.
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