The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

This chapter recounts events from 1951-1953. At the time of Henrietta’s death, the world is gripped by a massive polio epidemic. Plans are in progress to build a HeLa factory that will grow trillions of cells a week for the purpose of testing the new polio vaccine. It takes place at the Tuskegee Institute, a prestigious black university, and the HeLa cells prove the effectiveness of the vaccine. Ironically, however, the research takes place at the same place and time as the infamous Tuskegee syphilis studies, in which hundreds of black American men were left to die without treatment so that researchers could study the progress of the disease.

Due to the success of the polio trials, HeLa cells are shipped all over the world for medical research. Scientists also begin to clone the cells, which are instrumental in many important developments, such as the discovery that normal human cells have 46 chromosomes. However, as HeLa begins to dominate medical research, Gey starts having regrets: “Gey was relieved that companies had taken over HeLa distribution so he didn’t have to do it himself, but he didn’t like the fact that HeLa was now completely out of his control” (103). Not only this, but it is also inevitable that people will become curious about the woman who provided the cells.

In November 1953, as public interest grows, the Minneapolis Star attempts to name the woman behind the cells, but they are misinformed and wrongly identify her as “Henrietta Lakes.” Gey is contacted several times by journalists who insist that the public has the right to know the identity of the woman, but he refuses to reveal her real name. In May 1954, an article in Collier’s refers to the woman as “Helen L,” and she then becomes known as Helen Lane or Helen Larson—possibly pseudonyms created by Gey to prevent Henrietta’s real name from being discovered. At this time, until the 1970s, Henrietta’s family has no idea that her cells were taken and used for research.