Bo Chu Chan (Connie)
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
November 13, 2015
Essay # 6 Draft 2
“Reflect upon Henrietta’s lift”
The book the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, is about a poor African woman who name was Henrietta Lacks. She had five children. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer, and doctors took her cells to study for scientific experiments, which got profit without her family knowing. Henrietta Lacks cells are named HeLa, which became one of the most important tools in medicine vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, and more. HeLa cells have been bought and sold by the trillions, but her family can not afford her insurance. However, Henrietta’s childhood included her encounter, her passion, and her caring as if she was speechless in the air, or she just past her legacy down.
Henrietta Lacks was born in 1920, life back then was full of poverty. When her mother died in 1924, her father took all the children to his family’s home in Clover, Virginia. Henrietta was placed with her Grandfather and she had shared a room with her cousin David Lack. In her child hood, Henrietta and David got up early each morning to tend the farm animals and the kitchen garden. As soon as they had finished, they had to work in the tobacco fields with their siblings and cousins. They attended school and made it past elementary school. I was surprised to learn when she was fourteen, she had her first son.
Henrietta was a passion for friends. On book page 81, one of her cousin Cootie said that “everybody liked her cause she was a very good condition person.” He said. “she just lovey dovey, always smiling, always takin care of us when we come to the house. Ever after she got sick, she never was a person who say ‘I feel bad and I m going to take it out on you’ She wasn’t like that, even when she hurtin. She didn’t want to think she was gonna die.” because of her character, her affection wavered between her cousin David and another cousin, Crazy Joe who loved her much.
Henrietta was caring and grateful. Caring of her family much, she kept her cancer a secret through her first and second radium treatments. On the page 31, I learned that “when Jones go her Biopsy report and told her that it was malignant, she simply went on with her day as if nothing had happened. Which was just like her no sense upsetting anyone over something she could deal with herself.” This makes me believe that she would not want her family to know about her sickness. Furthermore, when she went to the hospital for the first radium treatment in the morning, she told her husband that ‘a in’ t nothing serious wrong,’ and ‘doctor’s gonna fix me right up.’ It makes me think that she was did not fearing fight the disease by herself.
This book was a sad story. Henrietta was a generous woman. It is reflected to the doctors and science researchers who took the cells send to everywhere in the world in order to get the profit for their personal. It also reminded me that the Tuskegee Syphilis Study conducted on unsuspecting black men for 40 years. Because of this researchers, the men failed to obtain the informed consent for participations. Therefore, the researchers were performing the immoral and unethiced ways in the science. In the same way, in John Hopkins Hospital, they were segregated and isolated in colored. This was the era of Jim Crow. So I was strongly believe that she was been treated unfair way since she was a black woman.
The book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, was about a poor African woman’s misfortune. Her childhood include her encounter, her passion, and her caring as like through in the air, or she just past down her legacy.
Mr. Kelly
Class 3A
November 13, 2015
Essay # 6 Draft 2
“Reflect upon Henrietta’s lift”
The book the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, is about a poor African woman who name was Henrietta Lacks. She had five children. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer, and doctors took her cells to study for scientific experiments, which got profit without her family knowing. Henrietta Lacks cells are named HeLa, which became one of the most important tools in medicine vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, and more. HeLa cells have been bought and sold by the trillions, but her family can not afford her insurance. However, Henrietta’s childhood included her encounter, her passion, and her caring as if she was speechless in the air, or she just past her legacy down.
Henrietta Lacks was born in 1920, life back then was full of poverty. When her mother died in 1924, her father took all the children to his family’s home in Clover, Virginia. Henrietta was placed with her Grandfather and she had shared a room with her cousin David Lack. In her child hood, Henrietta and David got up early each morning to tend the farm animals and the kitchen garden. As soon as they had finished, they had to work in the tobacco fields with their siblings and cousins. They attended school and made it past elementary school. I was surprised to learn when she was fourteen, she had her first son.
Henrietta was a passion for friends. On book page 81, one of her cousin Cootie said that “everybody liked her cause she was a very good condition person.” He said. “she just lovey dovey, always smiling, always takin care of us when we come to the house. Ever after she got sick, she never was a person who say ‘I feel bad and I m going to take it out on you’ She wasn’t like that, even when she hurtin. She didn’t want to think she was gonna die.” because of her character, her affection wavered between her cousin David and another cousin, Crazy Joe who loved her much.
Henrietta was caring and grateful. Caring of her family much, she kept her cancer a secret through her first and second radium treatments. On the page 31, I learned that “when Jones go her Biopsy report and told her that it was malignant, she simply went on with her day as if nothing had happened. Which was just like her no sense upsetting anyone over something she could deal with herself.” This makes me believe that she would not want her family to know about her sickness. Furthermore, when she went to the hospital for the first radium treatment in the morning, she told her husband that ‘a in’ t nothing serious wrong,’ and ‘doctor’s gonna fix me right up.’ It makes me think that she was did not fearing fight the disease by herself.
This book was a sad story. Henrietta was a generous woman. It is reflected to the doctors and science researchers who took the cells send to everywhere in the world in order to get the profit for their personal. It also reminded me that the Tuskegee Syphilis Study conducted on unsuspecting black men for 40 years. Because of this researchers, the men failed to obtain the informed consent for participations. Therefore, the researchers were performing the immoral and unethiced ways in the science. In the same way, in John Hopkins Hospital, they were segregated and isolated in colored. This was the era of Jim Crow. So I was strongly believe that she was been treated unfair way since she was a black woman.
The book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, was about a poor African woman’s misfortune. Her childhood include her encounter, her passion, and her caring as like through in the air, or she just past down her legacy.