The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

This chapter covers 1973-1974. Lawrence’s wife, Bobbette, is chatting to her friend Gardenia’s brother-in-law, who happens to work at the National Cancer Institute. When Bobbette mentions that her married name is Lacks, Gardenia’s brother-in-law tells her about HeLa: “I just read this article that said they came from a woman named Henrietta Lacks” (180). Bobbette insists it must be someone else with the same name, but as the man reveals the information he knows about this woman, Bobbette realizes it must be her late mother-in-law. Having read stories about horrific research such as the Tuskegee syphilis studies, Bobbette and the rest of the Lacks family are frightened by the news, thinking the researchers will also come for Henrietta’s family.

Around the same time, Victor McKusick and other researchers discussing the HeLa contamination problem decide they need DNA samples from Henrietta’s immediate family to help them identify HeLa from other cells. When they call Day Lacks to ask for blood samples from him and his children, they do not fully explain the reasons for this. Day agrees to the samples, but he is under the impression that they are testing the family to see if they have the same cancer that killed Henrietta.