Posted on 10/28/2021 6:17:51 AM PDT by Kaslin
On a hot summer day, Aug. 1, 1920, a woman named Henrietta Lacks was born in Roanoke, Virginia. Though blessed with the gift of life, she was not blessed with the fruits of good fortune. At the tender age of 4, her mother died while giving birth to her 10th child. Not too long after, her father moved the family to Clover, Virginia, only to abandon them and leave her to her maternal grandfather.
During this very delicate period of her life, she tended to the family farm, located on a plantation owned by her great-grandparents; her living space was tucked neatly into the former quarters of slaves. In sixth grade she was forced to make the difficult decision to drop out of school to support her family. A short while later, at the age of only 14, she gave birth to her first child, and then at 18, her second. Compounding the misery, pain and suffering of her childhood, her beloved second child was diagnosed with epilepsy and cerebral palsy.
A bit of breathing room was accorded to Lacks. After drudging through her childhood, she would marry and give birth to three more children. But all good things must come to an end. All of this would lead to a fateful day in November of 1950, where Lacks was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cervical cancer. Yet, unbeknownst to her, her cancer would inevitably seal her fate and her legacy. Doctors from her hospital would go on to collect tissue samples from her uterus only to discover that the immeasurable pain and suffering that Lacks endured would open the door to a new era of scientific research and advancements in medicine. Lacks's cells were immortal.
Cells will typically live for only a short period of time when placed outside the body. This short period of time is not nearly long enough to conduct studies on them. Not only that but they can only replicate themselves a finite number of times, meaning that, at a certain point, no more cells will be reproduced. But Lacks's cells were different. Her cells not only survived for long periods of time outside the body but they also replicated themselves every 24 hours. This natural breakthrough allowed scientists to be able to continually replicate and study real-life human cells outside the human body, something invaluable to the study of cells.
This convenience allowed scientists to develop some of the most widely recognized vaccines, such as the vaccines for Polio and COVID-19. Lacks's cells have been used even more broadly to study the effects of radiation, makeup and even space on human cells. That is right; her cells have been sent to space. In sum, patents that used Lacks's cells total nearly 11,000.
Most believe it to be a virtue to save the life of just one person, but imagine you could save billions. In fact, imagine your endeavors saved the lives of people who have not even been born yet, and will not be born for hundreds, and maybe even thousands, of years. Lacks unknowingly did just that. And what was she rewarded with for the medical advancements that her cells caused? An agonizing, premature death filled with immeasurable pain and suffering, and a memory that is slowly fading from the public's mind.
Lacks deserves much more recognition than she has received, and she deserved a better life than she was given. Her life story and legacy ought to be taught in schools; she should be posthumously awarded a Nobel Peace Prize; statues and plaques of her should be erected in hospitals and medical research centers everywhere. For if it were not for her, the many scientists who have won the Nobel Peace Prize, and many of the scientists who conduct research on her cells today, would not have the legacy that they have.
Of course, no award could possibly be created for someone of her stature. No living human has come close to saving the number of lives she has, nor anywhere near revolutionizing medicine, the products that we use and the world that we live in. Lacks has not only risen billions from the depths of suffering but she will continue to do so for decades, and possibly even centuries, to come.
Lacks's gift-from-God legacy knows no bounds. She may be the only person that will ever be discovered to have immortal, fast-replicating cells. If that is the case, then even more a reason to treat her like the miracle she was, still is and will be. For, in a thousand years, society may forget who she was, but even then, as is the case now, there is and always will be a little Henrietta Lacks in all of us.
So...she is a zombie?
Your entire lifespan you may never know why you were born and lived. We are seldom shown our true purpose to exist. The cutting of that one blade of grass may well shake the Universe.
“That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.”
H.P. Lovecraft
Sounds better than a fetal cell line.
Was this her “cancer”? There must be others.
I usually respect Armstrong’s opinions, but c’mon. Monuments, plaques, and Nobel Prizes???
Shouldn’t you have to knowingly accomplish something to receive those accolades?
It’s by an accident of nature she has some unique cells.
Great column. Thanks for posting.
She did nothing but contribute some cells.
Should we make her a heroine for that?
“Should we make her a heroine for that?”
That is a good question. These cells were taken for a biopsy. Activists make it out like she had been working on this for 25 years and then the white man stole them. I think is is wonderful that so much good came out of her tragedy, but she does not deserve any more credit than people with O- blood do. It was an accident that her cancer had this property and that someone noticed it before they threw the sample away.
They can erect statues of her to replace all the statues of Jefferson, Lincoln and Washington that are being torn down.
She did more to create this great nation than all of them put together, right?
I know that it was an accident in some ways but the story of her life, not that unusual for its time, makes a very compelling story. Read the book. I believe that one of her children was a result of her half brother raping her. Hard life indeed. I’m okay with her descendants receiving some compensation from the people who have made millions off of her cells.
Henrietta Lacks was the source of this biological bonanza BUT not by intent nor outside the shadow of her death. Yet while her life had toil and pain, it resulted in a triumph and blessing for others, so it is forever a life to be celebrated! [Consider how, under contemporary mores, her life may have never begun!?]
Next it is a celebration of science and technology and our United States for providing the probably unique support for the same, being the early 1950s when most other societies were still recovering from WW2. Science insists that it is almost impossible that Mrs. Lacks' cellular 'miracle' is unique BUT what would the results have been if it came in a different time or to a different culture? Even a favorite of Stalin or a beloved wife/daughter os the 'House of Saud' would have been a near impossibility here. How that speaks to the proponents of multi-culturalism or the sins of the white patriarchy / 1619 project, I will leave to the reader!
So should Henrietta Lacks be celebrated as Mr Armstrong advises? Yes but in the context of how this happy outcome took place! Science is replete with 'happy accidents' such as penicillin and others BUT only when there is the interest and ability to turn 'Huh' into 'Eureka!' And that, to me, frequently comes from inspiration and that is, at the end, a Godly thing!
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