The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Page #2

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Ripping and running, Miss Rebecca.

Ripping and running.

So, what's the earliest memory

you have of your mother?

Well, I hear she was pretty.

Lawrence the only one

old enough to really remember.

Me, Dale, Zakariyya,

we got no memories at all.

Lawrence was a teenager?

Mmm-hmm. He was around 15.

Zakar-ree-ah?

Changed his name in prison.

Good thing he ain't here

to hear you mispronouncing it.

I'm just messing with you.

So, here's where we take

scientists and reporters

who wanna know about our mother

so the whole family can gang up on them.

Now, you seem nice enough,

so I won't go get Zakariyya.

- Here you go.

- Thank you.

- Which house exactly does Lawrence live in?

- Good luck.

Hello?

Hello?

Hello? Anybody...

Come on in.

I'm Rebecca. Rebecca Skloot.

Wanna taste the meat I cook?

Now, my wife thinks I cook them too long.

How could I resist?

Uh, Lawrence, do you mind if I...

Sonny was telling me you're the only sibling

who has any memory of your mother...

I blacked out most of my memory

because of the sadness and hurting.

I found this cool thing. Um...

Using techniques that HeLa helped develop,

scientists can now take

a piece of a person's cornea

and grow it in a dish

to help treat blindness.

Imagine that.

Right?

It's a miracle.

- I was hoping I could meet Deborah...

- No, just the men.

My wife, she's a fire dragon

without her morning coffee.

Hmm. Come in the front room

while I take it up.

- Come on.

- Take your time, Daddy.

You like the way she decorate the house?

- Hey, Miss Rebecca!

- Sonny.

- Thank you.

- This is our father.

- Nice to meet you.

- Ma'am.

Lawrence, it's after 2:00.

You're just taking Barbara

her morning coffee?

Miss Rebecca, you better run while you can.

Pay him no mind.

Pops, did you know Mama's cells

gonna make Stevie Wonder see?

Don't surprise me none.

They're not actually being

put into people's eyes, her cells, but, um...

Hey, Pop, Miss Rebecca want to know

everything Dale always asking about.

I'm writing a book about Henrietta,

but what I'm missing is information

about her and her life,

what she liked,

what she liked to do, you know.

She was born in Roanoke?

That's right. Raised in Clover.

Didn't like Baltimore much.

So, every summer

she'd head on down to Clover.

Called herself tending a little tobacco.

Pick it, string it, even after she got sick.

Wow.

And when did you first hear

about your wife's cells and...

Hopkins called, said, "Come on up here,

'cause she died."

They wanted to do an autopsy.

They said, "It'd help your children

in case they come down with cancer."

When I went to claim the body,

none of them doctors told me nothing

about keeping her alive in them tubes.

What'd you expect?

I wouldn't go to Hopkins

to get my toenails cut.

Remember when we were little?

If you were bad,

the old folks would threaten to put you out

so them Hopkins night doctors could get you.

I remember.

Hopkins was known for snatching

black folks, experimenting on them.

You'd be surprised how many people

disappeared in East Baltimore.

They'd snatch them right off the street.

Well, it might be a myth. You never know.

- You know what is a myth?

- Hmm?

Everyone saying Henrietta Lacks

donated them cells.

'Cause she didn't donate nothing.

- Mmm-hmm.

- They took them and didn't ask.

Well, this matters to me,

the story, and why it needs to be told.

If this is something

that's gonna help mankind,

I can't imagine someone not wanting to help,

but be forthright, inform the family.

- Just show a little respect.

- Drop a little note.

- A postcard.

- Something.

Hopkins say they gave them cells away,

but they made millions.

A girlfriend of mine's brother-in-law

worked in a lab over in D.C.

She introduced us, and he said,

"'Lacks'? That's funny.

"For years I've been working

with the cells of this woman

"who died of cervical cancer

named Henrietta Lacks,"

and goes on to explain

how any time he wants more,

all he has to do is order them

from a supplier, like everybody else.

Day has got gangrene. Toes need amputating.

Sonny, a bad heart.

Lawrence, high blood pressure.

And Dale's got...

Run herself into the ground

over all the wrong that's been done.

This family's the only ones

haven't made a dime

off of their own mother's cells.

Hello?

If you're gonna write this book

about my mama and want my help,

first, you got to tell everybody

her name wasn't no Helen Lane

or whatever they sometimes say.

And second, everybody talk

about Henrietta Lacks got four kids.

That ain't right. She got five.

'Cause my sister Elsie got sent away

to that Crownsville place,

and I don't know why.

So, we are not leaving my sister out.

Now, my brother's all upset

'cause everybody come around,

make money off our mama's cells,

but I don't care nothing about that.

What I care about is knowing about my sister

and knowing about my mother.

And you got to promise me no matter what,

you ain't gonna lie

and you ain't gonna keep nothing from me.

I promise.

Well, you better get yourself ready, girl,

'cause you got no idea

what you're getting yourself into.

Hi.

Hi, I'm Rebecca.

- Mmm.

- So nice to meet you finally.

"Finally" is right.

- Finally, finally.

- Can I help you?

No, I'm all right.

"Finally" is good.

Here's my card just in case

anything you need or...

Swore up and down I wasn't gonna talk

to nobody ever again about my mother.

But here I am.

Hope I don't regret this.

You okay?

Do you mind if I start?

- Go ahead.

- Okay.

I'm the gray child

'cause I'm the one doing all the worrying...

...about our mother's cells.

Oh, I can only imagine.

Nothing but lies and deceit.

I'm... I'm good, thanks.

But no matter what,

my mother's always been there,

watching out for us.

Look at that salad bar.

So, when you say

your mother's always been there, what...

What you don't understand is

we didn't know nothing about nothing

till that Asian lady from Hopkins showed up.

Daddy, why they want our blood?

They're testing to see

if you got the cancer killed your mama.

Did you know my mama?

No, her cells.

Everybody does.

They've been in outer space,

in a nuclear bomb.

You should be proud.

But she said everybody knows her.

She done been in bombs and outer space.

- Mama's cells have been...

- Now, hush!

We put your mama in the ground

when you was two.

You alive or you dead.

Can't be both.

Finally, somebody did call me back,

asking for more of my blood.

What made my mama sick? What kind of cancer?

Am I gonna get it, too?

And how can she rest in peace if they keep

shooting her up into space like that?

Did she get hurt

when they blew her up in those...

Here is everything you need to know.

And so, they never explained to you

they were looking

for genetic markers specific to your mother?

Keep talking.

After HeLa, scientists figured out

how to grow lots of other cell lines

using these cells

in research and experiments.

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