It’s true blood is thicker than water. Family ties and loyalties trump any other relational connection.
Henrietta Lacks, a notable African American, believed this to be true as she and her husband raised their children and created a great family legacy through love.
With blood, sweat, and tears, she and her husband worked to provide for their family. Henretta, a mother of five children, died at the age of 31. She didn’t live to see any of her five children become adults.
Henrietta Lacks died from cervical cancer after receiving treatments from Johns Hopkins Hospital that could not cure her disease.
Based on her age, some may say she died young, or her death was untimely. Regardless of what anyone might say about her death, a part of her life is life-giving, even today.
Her legacy to the world is her blood cells, the building blocks of life. Imagine cancerous blood cells contributing to biomedical studies and cures for diseases and viruses.
Henrietta didn’t know her blood cells would live beyond her death and save the lives of people around the world who had no biological connection to her. Henrietta lacks blood and genetic connections that extend far beyond her biological family.
During her cancer treatments at Johns Hopkins Hospital, healthy and cancerous blood tissue was taken during a biopsy without her knowledge or permission. The two samples were given to George Gey, a cell biologist at Johns Hopkins. Gey, the director of tissue research at Johns Hopkins, also took samples of tissue from other hospital’s patients with cervical cancer.
Gey soon discovered that Lacks’ cancerous cells were different than any he had seen. Contrary to other cells, Lacks’ cells did not die. Her cells survived and multiplied in culture mediums. The cells doubled every 20 to 24 hours.
There was no question that this remarkable discovery was a medical phenomenon. Gey shared the cells with scientific researchers worldwide.
Henrietta Lack was shared around the world. She traveled as the smallest unit of life worldwide, and the medical world would never be the same.
Neither she nor her family ever imagined such a thing.
Henrietta Lacks’ cells are called HeLa cells, which were named with the first two letters of her first and last name. HeLa cells have been involved in virus research for COVID-19 and polio, cancer, HIV/AIDS studies, and much more.
Henrietta Lacks cells are her and her family’s most significant contributions to the world.
Long live the HeLa cells!
Researchers had used Lacks’ cells for decades without Henrietta’s or any surviving family member’s permission, but this changed in 2013.
There are innumerable HeLa cells in laboratories and biomedical facilities worldwide.
In 2013, Johns Hopkins, the National Institute of Health (NIH), and the Lacks family created an agreement about the use of Lacks’ genetic sequence. Scientists who propose using the cells in NIH research must receive permission. The NIH committee, which includes two members of the Lacks family, grants approval for the use of HeLa cells.
The family didn’t learn about the miraculous regeneration and biomedical use of Henrietta’s cells until 20 years after her death.
A ground-breaking ceremony took place at Johns Hopkins University for a building in honor of Henretta Lacks in October of 2024.
Be happy and well.