The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Essay

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is much more unique than any other books I read before this. The books involves with the Henrietta Lacks who has cervical cancer that turns to be non operational. Henrietta eventually dies, until to be autopsy for research and finding a vaccine for polio. I wasn’t only surprised by what happened to Henrietta, but, only to find out what happened to her children, such as Elsie, Joe, and Deborah. I was shocked to read about how Elsie died and where she died. Elsie was mentally impaired or diagnosed with idiocy and syphilis. I found myself heartbroken when Deborah and Rebecca compared the old picture of Elsie and her time in the asylum. I was disgusted and irked when they tell the description about Elsie’s …show more content…

This doesn’t reach my expectations to which I read news articles about how patients are treated terribly and used as “subjects” for experiments. I keep telling myself from now and then about how all people are not monsters themselves; I find doubt within my mind due to finding news articles that involve the disrespect and mistreatment of others at not only asylums, but at retirement homes, hospitals, workplaces, and even at school. It’s depressing to read about a mother’s beautiful child who was happy to have bad …show more content…

I understand why Deborah hesitates to trust anybody; Deborah’s life was a living hell ever since she was growing up. I know why Deborah would go to her mother’s documents from the past to acknowledge about any missing bits of information that would be useful to any connections within the family. I view Deborah as someone who went through unbearable pain, intense fear, and humiliation, yet, still continue her life to learn about her mother. Deborah was a strong woman that could be viewed as an inspiration. It was saddening to read of how Deborah became very ill and suffered a stroke. She kept moving forward despite the odds, until, she died of a heart attack; Rebecca believes that Deborah died happily knowing that she would meet Elsie and her mother in