Rebecca Skloot Heroes

“Every society needs heroes. And every society has them. The reason we don't often see them is because we don't bother to look. There are two kinds of heroes. Heroes who shine in the face of great adversity, who perform an amazing feat in a difficult situation. And heroes who live among us, who do their work unceremoniously, unnoticed by many of us, but who make a difference in the lives of others” (Yudhoyono). Author Rebecca Skloot exposed hidden secrets and revealed the incredible contribution made to the medical community by an unassuming black woman from the 1960’s, Henrietta Lacks. Through painstaking research and the writing of her book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot became a hero in our society.
Just an ordinary girl, seemingly a failure, Rebecca failed her freshman year of high school because of lack of attendance. As a result, she attended an alternative high school to complete her high school education. While taking a community college biology course for a high school credit, Rebecca first learned about Henrietta Lacks and her powerful HeLa cells when her professor, Donald Defler, taught the class about the scientific research into cancer cells. He told the class “HeLa
Henrietta died when Deborah was just a baby and she endured a life of abuse following her mother’s death. Deborah sought answers to her questions of who her mother was, but found none that satisfied her curiosity (Skloot 110-117). She was determined to find answers though, and as an adult she joined with Rebecca to uncover the truth about her mother and the HeLa cells. However, due to Deborah’s lack of education and her seeming emotional and mental instabilities (Skloot 286-288), it still seems that Rebecca emerges the ultimate hero of the story. Ultimately, she was able to uncover information about Henrietta and share it with Deborah in a way Deborah was able to understand (Skloot