The Life and Major Contributions of Henrietta Lacks to the Biomedical Field
There are many unsung heroes and heroines in our societies. During the period
when Henrieta Lacks lived, she never knew her cells could impact the lives of people in
various vital ways. Henrietta Lacks was born in 1920 Roanoke, Virginia. Her mother died
tenth child. At the time, Lacks was only four years old. After the death of Lacks’ mother,
her father and the other ten children relocated to Clover, Virginia, where all their relatives
lived. Besides, Henrietta Lacks ancestors had worked in this region as slaves. Lacks’
father gave his children to be raised by relatives because of his financial constraint.
Additionally, Lacks’ father lacked the patience of taking good care of children. Thus,
Henrietta Lacks was raised by his grandfather, Tommy Lacks, who was also David
Lacks, his other grandchild. Even though David Lacks stopped schooling at fourth grade
because of the hitherto black suppression, Henrieta Lacks continued studying up to grade
six. Today, Henrietta Lacks is famous because of her cells that were later discovered to
be immoral. Her unique cells enabled scientists to conduct more advanced studies on
cells outside human body, even though she did not voluntarily give out her cells for
research. Lacks’ cells triggered numerous biomedical research studies and inventions that
have been in advancing many modern biomedical practices.
Henrietta Lacks married at the age of 24 in 1941 to her cousin Day Lacks. After
their marriage, the family relocated to Turner Station, Maryland. This was to allow
Lacks’s husband work in for Bethlehem Steel because their initial home was stricken by
severe poverty and famine. Lacks was blessed with five children namely Lawrence,
Lucile, David, Debora, and Joseph. Skloot (n.d) reported that at around 1950, Henerietta
Lacks began to experience some cervical discomforts though she never sought any

3
medical attention. After one week of experiencing the pain, Lacks conceived her fifth
child. However, the pain continued in 1951. According to Skloot (n.d), Lacks family
always visited local Jesus statue before to pay respect through placing flowers on the feet
of the statue whenever they had any challenge and for good luck in their endeavors.
In 1951, Henrietta Lacks visited The Johnson Hopkins Hospital after
experiencing vaginal bleeding. Henerietta Lacks visited this hospital because there were
no any other options left for her. Besides, The Johns Hopkins Hospital was the only
healthcare sector that could treat her in her region. She was examined by a famous
gynecologist known as Dr. Howard Jones. The doctor discovered a large tumor in the
cervical area of Henrietta Lacks. She kept her diagnosis discrete and only shared her
condition with her husband. She was focused on finding solutions to her condition herself
without raising any eyebrows or worries to anyone. Lacks received many tests at the
hospital in readiness for her first cancer medication.
Skloot (n.d) explained that The Johns Hopkins Hospital had the tendency of
collecting cells of patients for further studies without the permission of the patients. Gey,
the researcher, aimed at developing an immortal human cell line or the cells that could
repeatedly reproduce themselves in the laboratories. The researcher availed the cells of
Henrietta Lacks to his research assistant, Mary Kubicek. He then tasked the assistant to
culture tumor cells of Lacks and her healthy cervical cells. Skloot (n.d) reported that
Kubicek was doubtful whether the cells could automatically replenish by themselves
because none of the previously cultured cells had proliferated. However, he picked
Lacks’ tumor sample and labelled it HeLa. This was an abbreviation of the first names of
Henrietta Lacks.

4
Even though Kubicek did not expect the cells of Henerietta Lacks to replenish
automatically, the HeLa cells succeeded and Lacks’ cervical cells continued to reproduce
at unprecedented rate. Some weeks after Henerietta Lacks left The Johns Hopkins
Hospital after her previous radium medication, her tumor continued to grow in the Gey’s
lab. Skloot (n.d) documented that the growth rate for Henrietta Lacks’ tumor cells was
twenty five times faster than her normal cells. After a month of Henerietta Lacks’
diagnosis in 1951, her family was still not aware of her cervical cancer. However, as
Lacks’ medication advanced and her tumor started shrinking, she thought of using an X-
ray therapy. Lacks’ husband worked until lat