The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Deborah is Henrietta’s younger daughter, and like Sonny and Joe, she was just a toddler when her mother died and remembers nothing about her. Along with Henrietta, Deborah is one of the most central figures in the story—of all the family members, she is the one who most wants her mother’s story to be told. She is also desperate to find out about her mother for her own sake, having struggled all her life to get her family to tell her anything about Henrietta. The male members of her family often dominate Deborah, explaining her sometimes contradictory behavior. For example, when Skloot first calls Deborah, she is extremely keen to talk to her about Henrietta and the family’s experiences, but the second call, when Deborah’s enthusiasm has been crushed by her father and brothers, is very different: “No interviews […] You got to go away. My brothers say I should write my own book […] I can’t talk to you no more. Only thing to do is convince the men” (53).

As Skloot gradually forms a close relationship with Deborah and listens to her story, it becomes apparent just how much she and the rest of the family have suffered, not only through losing Henrietta but also because of the HeLa cells and the way the family has been treated by scientists and doctors. Deborah, who eventually opens up to Skloot, has already suffered several strokes because of the stress; sadly, she does not live to see the publication of her mother’s story. Nonetheless, Skloot is indebted to Deborah for her invaluable help with her research, and she has nothing but the greatest admiration for this woman who, despite her traumatic life, embodied her mother’s strength and warmth: “[Deborah was] one of the strongest and most resilient women I’d ever known” (7).

David Lacks, known as Day, is notable for lacking a strong presence in the story, which suggests that perhaps he could have done more as a husband and father. He and Henrietta were first cousins and were raised together by their grandfather. When Day, who is five years older than Henrietta, fathered her first child, it is suggested that this is the inevitable result of two teenagers sharing a room, rather than a romantic love affair.

Day and Henrietta married several years later, eventually having five children, and Day provided his wife and family with a home and an income. However, he was regularly unfaithful and even gave Henrietta gonorrhea while she was suffering the side-effects of radium treatment. As a father, he did nothing to protect his children from the abuse they suffered at the hands of their cousins, even when Galen sexually molested Deborah in front of her father. Day also did not visit his elder daughter, Elsie, whom Henrietta reluctantly sent to an institution when her learning disabilities and epilepsy became too much to cope with.

Lawrence is much older than the three younger children and has almost reached adulthood when Henrietta dies. He leaves school to take care of his siblings but, having lied about his age to get into pool halls, he then finds himself drafted into military service and is sent away for two years. However, when he later marries Bobbette, he takes the three children into his own home. Lawrence is therefore depicted as a caring older brother who does his best to help his siblings. When Deborah asks him about their deceased sister, Elsie, he is reluctant to say very much, but he does tell her that “she was beautiful, and that he had to take her everywhere he went so he could protect her” (117).