The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Page #7

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Dale, relax.

No, only time I can relax

is when I'm driving down here.

That's the only time I can relax, till I start

thinking about what they did to my mama.

You know what they did?

They did whatchamacallit.

They cloned her! They cloned her!

Deborah, remember we talked about this?

They didn't do that.

They didn't do that.

Remember we talked about it?

No, no, you know what they did?

They mixed her with mice.

And now they saying that

she's not even human no more!

She's not even human no more!

They gave my mama AIDS,

and then they injected her into a monkey.

They injected her into a monkey.

They injected her into a monkey...

Don't make yourself sick over something

you can't do nothing about!

You got to let God handle it!

I was just talking to God,

and He's trying to take over,

but I've been trying to keep Him out of this,

but He just won't let me keep Him out.

Lord, I lift up my hand...

I lift up my hand and offer

praises to You, Lord.

You are welcome in this place.

You are welcome into this broken vessel.

Come touch me, Lord. Come touch me tonight.

- Lord...

- I thank You, Lord,

because we need Your help

lifting the burden of them cells

from this woman, Lord.

Lift this burden, Lord.

Lift this burden, Lord.

Take it away. We don't need it.

You are welcome to this place,

welcome into this broken vessel.

Show me the way, Lord.

Show me which way to go.

Show me which way to go.

Take this burden from me, Lord.

Take this burden from me.

I don't want it no more.

I don't want it no more.

You are not alone!

You are not alone.

Let her carry 'em!

Give her...

Let her carry it! Let her carry it!

Let her carry it!

Let it go.

Let it go, let it go, let it go.

Let it go. Let it go.

Let it go. Let it go.

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

Let it go, baby.

Just let it out, there you go.

Let it go, baby. Let it go.

Phew.

I'm gonna come back tomorrow

for some more of that.

Oh, it's still coming down out there.

It's still coming down out there.

Still coming down out there.

What does that feel like, when you're

speaking those words, and...

What does that really feel like?

Well, that's just God

telling Deborah that He cares.

Read.

Out loud.

"Those who believe in me

will live even though they died,

"and those who live and believe in me

will never die."

Henrietta was chosen,

and when God chooses an angel to do his work,

you never know what

they're gonna come back looking like.

So, you believe that Henrietta's spirit

lives in those cells?

No, Henrietta is those cells.

Aunt Sadie, what you doing here?

Checking on my girl.

The other day,

I got to remembering the last time

Hennie and me ride that wheel.

Oh, that breeze.

Oh, you can see clear across

to Sparrow's Point.

I got something inside of me.

Hennie, please don't tell me

you have another baby with that man.

Oh, Gladys. What kind of thing?

Cancer.

Hennie, no.

You got to promise me.

Make sure nothing bad happen to my children.

Especially my baby girl.

I wanna braid her hair,

dress her up real pretty,

teach her how to paint her nails

and handle men.

You were your mother's

first breath in the morning,

and her last prayer at night.

- Should I call Christoph?

- Dale!

Don't worry, he promised to behave.

I ain't got no time

for crazy today, so be good.

Otherwise you won't be able to

go see them cells.

- Christoph. Hi.

- Hi, Rebecca.

Hello. This is Deborah, Christoph.

- Hello.

- This is Henrietta's son. Christoph...

Zakariyya Bari Abdul Rahman.

Zakariyya followed John the Baptist.

Bari, made of clay. Abdul, service.

Rahman, most gracious.

I've been working with your mother's cells

for my entire life, and this is

truly an honor.

Please, follow me.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Miss? Follow me.

Oh, don't worry, it's not dangerous.

Which... Which one is our mother's cells?

Well, they all are.

Oh, my God.

We can keep them here

for 100 years, even more.

She's cold.

You famous.

Just nobody knows it.

- Oh, there they are.

- Yeah.

Could I look at it in the...

Oh, yes, please.

It's right here.

Dale, look.

Would you look at here!

Excuse me.

Would you hit the light, please?

Oh, my God.

I can't think of anybody

who deserves it more.

Hold the baby.

Here you go, hold the baby. She won't...

See? She won't cry.

All right, let's all take the picture

on the count of three.

One, two, three.

- Jabrea!

- Jabrea!

- Thank you, son.

- Mmm-hmm.

Bye.

So, when I finish it,

do you want me to send it to you

or do you want me to come down and read it?

Only certain parts.

Been thinking about going back to school.

Wow.

- Getting certified to become a nurse's aide.

- That's fantastic.

Time to get busy.

Deborah, hey.

I'm headed to

the Roanoke public records room,

so I figured I'd just swing by Clover,

check on Cliff.

You wanna tag along?

Deborah, I saw a mock-up

of the book cover today.

I hope you love it as much as I do.

Call me.

Sonny, will you please tell your sister

to stop messing around and return my calls?

Thanks.

When I die, I'm glad I won't

have to tell my mother's story,

everything that's happened,

'cause you've been watching it all.

There won't be any words,

just a lot of hugging and crying.

Heaven look just like Clover, Virginia.

My mother loved it down there,

more than anyplace else in the world.

I don't wanna be immortal

if it means living forever.

Because then everybody else just die

and get old in front of you

while you stay the same,

and that's just sad.

Three floors up. Can you count?

Say "hey" to Mommy.

Mommy.

I don't know how I'm gonna go.

I just hope it's nice and calm.

Maybe I'll come back as some HeLa cells,

like my mother.

That way, we can do good out there

in the world together.

I think I'd like that.

My baby Deborah

Your mommy loves you

Your mommy loves you

Baby Deborah

Baby Deborah...

That's right.

Baby Deborah...

See?

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