Skloot said that some of the information was taken from the journal of Deborah Lacks, Henrietta Lacks's daughter, as well as from "archival photos and documents, scientific and historical research." It is Skloot's first book. The book is notable for its science writing and dealing with ethical issues of race and class in medical research. Skloot began conducting extensive research on her and worked with Lacks' family to create the book. Skloot became interested in Lacks after a biology teacher referenced her but knew little about her. The book is about Henrietta Lacks and the immortal cell line, known as HeLa, that came from Lacks's cervical cancer cells in 1951. It was the 2011 winner of the National Academies Communication Award for best creative work that helps the public understanding of topics in science, engineering or medicine. Deborah noted that most journalists didn’t want to let Zakariyya speak because he was angry and abrasive but that it was important to hear him too.The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010) is a non-fiction book by American author Rebecca Skloot. He concluded that despite the good Henrietta’s cells had done, he would have rather she had been alive to take care of him. Zakariyya believed he was mean because he had to start fighting in the womb because of cancer. He noted that the Lacks family couldn’t afford care and the only people who benefited from the treatments her cells created were people with money. Zakariyya began to rant about how angry he was at George Gey for taking Henrietta’s cells. Deborah promised to watch the conversation from a distance and intervene if things got tense. Skloot was nervous to meet Zakariyya because of his violent reputation, but Deborah assured her that he was ready to talk.Īt this point, Zakariyya was near fifty and living in an assisted living facility for his partial deafness and near blindness. At one point, Deborah accused Skloot of trying to steal Henrietta’s medical records. The effects of Hopkins’ and journalists’ lack of transparency had left Deborah extremely paranoid, and she occasionally lashed out at Skloot. Deborah was frustrated that he hadn’t explained it to her and that he’d given her an autographed copy of his book that she couldn’t have hoped to understand. Skloot finally explained to Deborah that the blood samples McKusick had asked for were not for cancer screenings but DNA research. For Deborah, so many of the stories about her mother and HeLa seemed so incredible that it was difficult for her to distinguish fact from fiction. Unlike her brothers, she had given up on any hope of making money back from her mother’s cells. Nevertheless, she wanted to learn about how HeLa cells had helped people. Deborah thought the photo was beautiful, but noted she had more photos of HeLa cells than her mother. He also invited the family to visit him at Hopkins to look at the cells. , Lengauer sent Skloot a photo of a gene mapping technique he’d developed using HeLa that, under a UV light, lit the chromosomes in beautiful colors. After reading an article Skloot had written for When Deborah and Skloot met, Skloot showed her an image from a Hopkins researcher named Christoph Lengauer. Deborah emphasized that she wanted to know what happened to her mother and sister. Finally, Deborah called Skloot and told her that she would help as long as Skloot made sure everyone knew Henrietta’s correct name, all five of the Lacks children were mentioned, and that the book told the story of all the Lackses, good and bad. During that time, Skloot would send Deborah updates on things she had learned about Henrietta. Deborah refused to talk to Skloot for nearly a year after their first conversation.
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