In late 1951, Henrietta Lacks went to John Hopkins Hospital to get treated for severe abdominal pain after having given birth. A few months later, she died while staying at the hospital from cervical cancer. Her contribution to biology is the fact that her cells were taken from her while she was being treated at John Hopkins without her consent and used to form the future HeLa cell line, which is an unique cell type in the immortal line of cells. This also means that the cell cannot die and can be multiplied and used to help others. Born Loretta Pleasant on August 1, 1920, in Roanoke, Virginia to two loving parents, Eliza and Johnny; Henrietta Lacks emerged into the world. Over the course of the years and a nickname of ‘Hennie,’ Loretta Pleasant changed her name to Henrietta, the reasoning behind it is still unsure. When Lacks’ mother, Eliza, was giving birth to her tenth child, she died. Henrietta was only four years old when her mother died in 1924. The death of his wife and the addition of another child became very difficult for Johnny, who was unable to provide for his family on his own. In order to get the help that he needed to take of the children and provide for them, he moved the entire family to Clover, Virginia. The children were all later sent separately to various family members to reside with them. Henrietta was sent to …show more content…
At the time, family medical records were allowed to be published without their consent. It was concluded that Lacks’ cells are no longer hers and that they could be marketed. The Lacks family’s case was given more recognition in a BBC documentary in 1998 and later the 2010 book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. In 2016, Oprah Winfrey planned to develop a film based on Skloot’s book and it would premiere on HBO. Members of the Lacks family supported the film and it earned great