Biography
Hi, I am Deborah Lacks. I am the only surviving daughter and the fourth child of Day and Henrietta. I had a horrible childhood experience because I was abused by her cousin Galen’s wife, Ethel. After my mom’s death, my nightmares continued after I moved to live with my brother Lawrence since Galen offends me continuously.
I do proud of my mom’s cells that have been greatly contributed to the field of medical science, resulting in major medical advances. For example, it is vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, and more. However, I am so disappointed about the fact that her cells were taken without her consent. I did not know all the informations about my mom’s cells until I heard from Bobbette. She told our family that "Part of your mother, it's alive!" (450) We are all confused at that moment, but with excitement.
I believe that innumerable people’s cells are treated as my mother’s for doing research and getting some profits without their consent. But how can only my mom’s HeLa cases open to the public and get spread so fast in the world. Some people told me that it should be accounted for racial issues, since my mom are black farmer. However, I think that tell the truth about my mother is more important than that because it is really hard to hear truth around people nowadays, especially in medical field. Because lots of scientists want to make more profits. Sadly, at that time, “the cultures were shared freely, without compensation”(579) , so our family did not get any financial compensation from the HeLa cells.
I had a hard time with my stroke during the time that I am seeking the truth of my mom’s cells, which cause me to have anxiety. I know "All this stuff I'm learning,' she said, 'it make me realize that I did have a mother, and all the tragedy she went through. It hurts but I wanna know more, just like I wanna know about my sister. It make me feel closer to them, but I do miss them. I wish they were here." (727) It seems like I am a positive person, but my inner world are extremely vulnerable and negative. I just want to show people that I am a tough women who will never give up finding the truth f my mom’s cells. That’s how determined I am.
Tweet
1.What? My mom’s cells are still alive? What on earth her cells had done for science? #NHSHenrietta #LivingCell#Life Science#ScienceResearch
2.I am still alive! Big thanks to my grandson Davon for smacking me while I am having a stroke.#NHSHenrietta#Stroke#Gratitude
3.What’s the real benefits from my mother’s cell? Helping people or for other profits?#NHSHenrietta
4.How can Hopkins's physicians do research on my mom’s cells without my family’s permission?#NHSHenrietta #theDeclarationofHelsinki #ethics
5.How many more people’s cells are treated as my mother’s #NHSHenrietta #consent #woe
6.It’s impossible for me to donate my mother’s bible. That’s the only thing I have from her.#NHSHenrietta
7.Are you kidding me? “The Supreme Court... removed, with or without consent, a person no longer owns those tissues.”(836)#NHSHenrietta #ethic
8.The first line of human immortal cells http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-immortal-cells-of-henrietta-lacks-robin-bulleri … #NHSHenrietta
9.I still wondering “Who gave my mother medical records to a reporter?” Why is it so hard to figure it out?#NHSHenrietta
10.Writing the truth about my mother is more important than racial issues. #NHSHenrietta #morality #racism
11.I cannot believe that my mom's cells are so beneficial!!!#NHSHenrietta
Five ways Henrietta Lacks changed medical science http://bit.ly/2ouYurE
Image of stained HeLa cells
12.Researchers should really reflect on the ethics behind my mother's story.#NHSHenrietta
Below are the Trailer of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks from HBO!
(Henrietta Lacks' cells led to many important breakthroughs in biomedical research.
However, ethics laws were..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-jxEX1XQpY)
13.That’s how HeLa cells look like.#NHSHenrietta
#HeLaCells have been used in the study of haemophilia! Henrietta Lacks continues to live on, thank God for the Lacks family. Image from Wiki.
Cultured HeLa Cells
14.Hope my brothers can always think positively. “If you gonna go into history, you can’t do it with a hate attitude.”(701)#NHSHenrietta
15. @LacksSonnyYeah, I remember that period with our eldest brother. I don't know what happened to our mother. She seemed to be gone forever.#NHSHenrietta
16.@LacksSonnyBrother, I know how you feel about HeLa. This was not what I’d expected as well. Things are getting too complicated now.#NHSHenrietta #HeLa
17. @r_sklootYeah, that's what I always tell to my brothers. We have to hold a positive attitude though we never forget about our mother.#NHSHenrietta
18.We want compensation for our mom’s cells#NHSHenrietta
Articles are attached: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/henrietta-lackss-family-wants-compensation-for-her-cells/2017/02/14/816481ba-f302-11e6-b9c9-e83fce42fb61_story.html?utm_term=.d3e147679580
Reflection on Tweet
I tried to present the true character of Deborah Lacks, who cares a lot about her mother and never give up discovering her mom’s life throughout my tweets. As you can see, my tweets show the discovery of HeLa, ethics behind the cells, informed consent and racism. In addition, it shows Deborah always wants to know more about her mother and the truth of her mother. I replied to my character’s brother and the author’s tweet to show the complexity of Henrietta’s story as well as being a positive person. I intentionally added some images about HeLa, video clips of the general view of the story and an article about compensation for immoral behaviours.
Questions:
What’s your point view toward the arguments against giving people legal ownership of their tissues?
I do not agree with the quote from David Korn, vice provost for research at Harvard University. Though donating either your cells or organs will greatly benefit both patients and researchers, without getting consent from people themselves or their family members will result in violating people’s own freewill, the ability to choose what they want to do. In this case, people’s rights are offended instead of being protected. My mom’s story can be a great example for that. If we do not give people legal ownership of their tissues, who knows what will happen to their tissues? Water are too deep nowadays, people try to hide their real actions and purposes in front of public for getting more profits. Yet, they should really reflect on themselves whether their behaviour is ethical or not. All those phenomenons can be explained by the the corruption of government nowadays because they all want to maximize profits through shortcuts. Sadly, they forget to care about our feelings as citizens. There are some ways to change the case. Government should try to promote more incentives on all the citizens, like increasing poor people’s living standard and try to provide them free health care if they reach an agreement for donation. Thus, they will know that donate their own cells or organs after they die will greatly contribute to science research project, saving many people’s lives as well as gaining personally benefits from government. In this case, it will be a win-win relationship. Government should really take some actions on the policy to improve country as whole.
Work Cited
HBO. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Official Trailer (HBO)." YouTube. YouTube, 15 Mar. 2017. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.
Image "HeLa." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Apr. 2017. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.
McDaniels, Andrea K. "Henrietta Lacks's Family Wants Compensation for Her Cells." The Washington Post. WP Company, 14 Feb. 2017. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.
Samuel, Leah, and Stat. "5 Ways Henrietta Lacks Changed Medical Science." Scientific American. © 2017 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, A DIVISION OF NATURE AMERICA, INC. 14 Apr. 2017. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.
Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Broadway, 2017. Print.
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