Who is deborah lacks

She grew up in Virginia, in a poor household, and her life was tumultuous. In , Lacks' life was turned upside down with the discovery that her own mother, twenty years dead, was a staple in modern science. A hero must possess faith and willpower. Lacks possessed these traits abundantly to survive learning the truth about her mother. She believed that the cells of her mother possessed part of her soul and that there was a way to save her mother from the pain that her cells were put through every day.

The willpower required to hold off hundreds of people who were trying to take advantage of the Lacks family was tremendous. Deborah Lacks overcame the issues her mother left her with willpower and faith. Lacks experienced hardship throughout her entire life but survived with her own faith.

Lacks' mother was a woman who died for science without knowing. Doctors took her cells without her knowledge which ended up being the first cells to reproduce indefinitely. Thirty years later Lacks discovered this information and was scarred for life. Her mother was alive forever. Lacks believed her mother's soul was alive in these cells Lombardi. Rebecca Skloot, a renowned author, spent years gathering information for her book, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Lacks' concerns that her mother's cells are still alive with her mother's soul were never truly eased because they are still used today. Lacks found strength in her faith even when her world turned upside down. She attended daily church services and found faith in god. But a compromise must be found. The last time the US Department of Health and Human Services worked to revise the Common Rule, it proposed a series of other changes at the same time; perhaps one way forward is to tackle the question of consent for biospecimens on its own, and with thorough discussion involving not only scientists, but also the public.

In the current climate of reckoning with racial injustice, some researchers who use HeLa cells have concluded that they should offer financial compensation.

For example, a laboratory at the University of California, San Diego, and a UK-based biomedical company have announced donations to the Henrietta Lacks Foundation, which was established in by Rebecca Skloot, the author of a book about Lacks.

Other institutions and researchers must examine whether — and how — their own work builds on past injustices. And they must consider how best to make amends. COVID, a disease that is disproportionately affecting Black people in a number of countries, offers an opportunity for those who wish to usher in a fairer era of research. To give back now, researchers should not only study why the disease is more prevalent and severe among Black people, but also help to implement solutions to close the gap.

And, once a vaccine is available — possibly as a result of work with HeLa cells — researchers must work with marginalized communities to see that it reaches those who need it most. The past cannot be undone, but we must acknowledge the wrongs of previous generations, and those wrongs that persist today. Justice must be done, and the time to start is now.

Adey, A. Nature , — PubMed Article Google Scholar. Wolinetz, C. Article Google Scholar. Download references. News Feature 10 NOV Correspondence 09 NOV News 12 NOV World View 02 NOV Career Feature 25 OCT University of Washington UW. Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily. Did Deborah Lacks ever get anything for the HeLa cells taken from her mother? She was the only daughter to survive to adulthood. Her efforts to find out more about her mother combined with other struggles gravely affected her health.

Read about the life of Deborah Lacks Pullum, who struggled while others profited off the cells taken from her mother. Day and Henrietta were married in , and shortly thereafter, they moved to Turner Station, a booming industrial neighborhood in Baltimore. They had three more children—David, Jr. Sonny , Deborah, and Joe later Zakariyya —the last in Deborah had married Cheetah. Shortly after the birth of their second child, LaTonya, Cheetah began using drugs and abusing Deborah.

He also began selling drugs out of the house in front of their children. One day Cheetah, drunk and high, began beating Deborah. When she saw he was still alive, she dragged him outside—it was frigid and snowing—and left him on the ground without a coat to freeze.

Deborah put him in bed and then called Bobbette.