The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Page #6

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in one of these reports before, it's...

Let me see. Let me see.

Why they holding her neck like that?

They shouldn't be holding her neck like that.

What are they doing here?

Stop taking notes and put

that document down now.

This is the family of a former patient!

My birth certificate.

My sister's birth certificate

and power of attorney.

Now get me a copy

of my sister's records and her picture

so we can get on out of here.

How are you feeling?

Time to take my sister back to Clover.

This is my mother. This is my mother.

She in history 'cause of her cells.

This is my sister.

We just found my sister today.

Now, look. She a little puffy

around the eyes.

- Deborah! Deborah!

- She had been crying 'cause couldn't find me.

- Oh, this my reporter. This my reporter.

- Hey.

- We on our way to Clover.

- Hey.

- You ever been to Clover?

- Deborah, hey.

You ever been to Clover?

You need to go to Clover!

- Deborah. Listen.

- Bye!

Come here. I have to talk to you.

I'm... I'm tired. You're tired.

Why don't we go to the motel now, check in,

and then we can

drive to Clover in the morning?

Let's do that.

Here you go, my mama's records.

Are you sure?

Knock yourself out.

I'm going to bed.

I'm not going to bed.

Let's get busy.

What you got?

Okay.

"Twenty-eight-year-old woman.

"Rh-positive, November 2, 1949."

This is three days before you were born.

Let me see.

"August 8, 1951.

"Tubes filled with radium were placed

inside the cervix and sewn into..."

Let me see that. Let me see that.

Why don't we...

Why don't we call the front desk

and see if there's a Kinko's nearby?

Why?

There's over 100 pages here,

and some are in really bad condition,

and there's just no way

that we're gonna be able to

read them all and take notes tonight.

I can read.

And you can take notes.

"August 8, 1951.

"Thirty-year-old colored woman.

"Cervical biopsy."

Oh, wait, wait, wait. Can I see...

Oh, my God, this could be

when Johns Hopkins first took a sample.

Enough about Hopkins!

"Lucille Elsie Lacks.

"Pneumo..."

"Encephalography.

"To prevent brain fluid blurring X-rays,

doctors would drill holes into skulls

"and drain the fluid out

and pump air into the brain."

Deborah, are you okay?

"Elsie Lacks, 10 years old.

"January 20th."

Deborah, you were only two months old when...

Turn that off.

I do not want you putting that in the book.

I don't want you putting that in the book!

- I won't, I promise.

- You smiling 'cause you're lying.

No, I'm smiling because I think it's very sweet

that you wanna protect your sister.

That's why I'm smiling.

- I'm sorry.

- Who's paying you?

- What?

- Who you working for?

We've been through this before.

- I told you that...

- Who's paying you?

- Who's paying for this room?

- I told you I'm working...

- ...at Johns Hopkins! Johns Hopkins!

- I told you before...

Get the f*** off me! Get off me!

Jesus Christ, how many times

do I have to tell you

I'm working for myself?

I'm not working for Johns Hopkins!

I'm not Sir Lord!

If you don't trust me

after everything we've been through,

you can go f*** yourself!

I was all anxious last night.

Took me an Ambien.

Painted my nails.

I did a horrible job.

Continental breakfast, 99 cent.

Save you some money.

Deborah, I...

We a mess, girl.

But you gotta promise me something.

You can't let me and nobody else

keep you from writing this book.

And all that happened last night,

all that's gotta go in there, too.

No, no, no, I'm not putting

myself in the book.

Well, I'm not gonna be in there by myself.

It's all a part of the story now.

We okay, boo?

Are you... Are you okay? What...

I get this way sometime.

You wanna ride with me?

I've been thinking about

copyrighting my mama's signature

so can't nobody steal it,

then I'm gonna set up a webpage

and have people do donations,

and then I'm gonna use them donations.

I'm gonna get a monument

and I'm gonna put it on her grave.

And then I'm gonna turn the Home House...

I'm gonna turn the Home House into a museum.

I think we should find a doctor.

I think that these don't look like

they're clearing up.

- I think we should pull over...

- Nothing a Benadryl won't fix up.

Here, open this for me.

And inside... I've been thinking about it.

Inside I'm gonna put a wax figure of her,

of my mother, and then

I'm gonna put a wax figure,

and then some of her cells,

and then I'm gonna have

people come and watch them multiply.

Come on, bring your camera.

Deborah, slow down. Deborah?

Take a picture of me and my sister.

Now, the three of us on my mother's grave.

Hurry, hurry. Weather not looking good.

This is the only time

the three of us gonna be together.

Okay, listen to me. Let's go back to the car.

I think... I think this is...

Deborah?

Deborah?

Lawrence stayed away.

Didn't wanna see my mother put in the ground.

These welts, these welts don't mean nothing

compared to the welts

up and down Zakariyya's back.

Evil Aunt Ethel,

who my daddy had take care of us

after our mother died, she hated us.

Daddy busy working, nobody looking.

She hated us!

But she saved a special hate

for little Zakariyya, a special hate for him.

Sometimes in the middle

of the night for no reason,

she would stand him

in the corner in the basement,

and she would... She would beat, and beat,

and beat, the love out of him.

So, this hurt...

This hurt ain't nothing compared to Galen,

Aunt Ethel's husband, when I turned 15...

- Stop.

- Shh!

- Stop, stop, stop.

- Shh!

Stop!

God, stop it...

Stop.

If the two of you put your hands

on these children ever again,

so help me God, I'll kill you dead.

Open your mouth to lie, b*tch,

and I'll do it now.

Sonny, Little Joe,

you're coming home with me.

If my mama had lived,

all of these bad things,

they never would've happened,

because my mama...

My mother, she would've...

She would've slapped Aunt Ethel.

And she would've told Galen, "You stop it!

"You stop it. That's my daughter.

You stop it. That's my daughter!"

You just didn't stop it.

Zakariyya wouldn't have had to go to jail.

He wouldn't have been so mean.

Everybody taking things

they ain't got no right to take.

And that's why she got that look on her face.

She knew.

Her mama ain't never coming back.

One day, she got a mother.

And the next day, she don't.

Ain't nobody even tell her why.

It's all right. It's all right.

I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.

- It's all right.

- I'm so sorry.

It's all right. It's all right.

It's all right...

Hey, cuz. Hey, Aunt Gladys.

Hey. How you doing?

Hey, cuz, look what I got.

Look what I got from Crownsville.

It's my sister.

Cuz, you don't seem so good right now.

I'm just having a reaction.

I'm having a reaction.

I'm breaking out, and I'm swelling up

because of all this stuff

I'm learning about my mother.

It hurts.

- It hurts.

- Come, sit.

Bet you didn't know...

Bet you didn't know

that they injected my mama

with all kinds of poisons.

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