The Untold Story of Henrietta Lacks
Katelyn Jakubowski
AP Language and Composition
8/13/12
Flourishing from Success
“The scientific enterprise is all about failure; I mean, you learn so much from failure. And you learn almost nothing from success.” This scientist is stating that one cannot gain any knowledge without failing. This is not true. Once one obtains success one now knows exactly what to do to achieve success, thus opening doors and further experiences for them. The novel “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot, due to the success of tissue culture researcher Dr. George Gey can further dispute this quote. His success in tissue culture led to further discoveries, and became one of the most important breakthroughs in modern medicine. The world was able to learn from his success.
On February 5th 1951 Henrietta Lacks received her first cancer treatment. During this time she also had “two dime size pieces of tissue from her cervix: one from her tumor, and one from her healthy cervical tissue” (Skloot, 33) shaved off. These tissue samples were then given to Dr. George Gey with the hope that the cells would grow outside the body in culture. Henrietta’s cells were then brought to Gey’s lab, cut up and distributed into dozens of roller tubes and then placed into a roller drum. Unhopeful Dr. Gey’s assistant Mary checked the cells daily for any growth. After two days, Mary discovered that “Henrietta’s cells weren’t merely surviving, they were growing with mythological intensity.” (Skloot, 40) Dr. George Gey and his staff began notifying their closest colleagues the possibility of the discovery of the first immortal human cells. It was finally possible to grow human cells outside the body.
Gey’s success began many experiments for other scientists throughout the world. The immortal “HeLa” cells quickly became the go-to research cells. “Her cells were part of research into the genes that cause cancer and those that suppress it; they helped develop drugs for treating herpes,
AP Language and Composition
8/13/12
Flourishing from Success
“The scientific enterprise is all about failure; I mean, you learn so much from failure. And you learn almost nothing from success.” This scientist is stating that one cannot gain any knowledge without failing. This is not true. Once one obtains success one now knows exactly what to do to achieve success, thus opening doors and further experiences for them. The novel “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot, due to the success of tissue culture researcher Dr. George Gey can further dispute this quote. His success in tissue culture led to further discoveries, and became one of the most important breakthroughs in modern medicine. The world was able to learn from his success.
On February 5th 1951 Henrietta Lacks received her first cancer treatment. During this time she also had “two dime size pieces of tissue from her cervix: one from her tumor, and one from her healthy cervical tissue” (Skloot, 33) shaved off. These tissue samples were then given to Dr. George Gey with the hope that the cells would grow outside the body in culture. Henrietta’s cells were then brought to Gey’s lab, cut up and distributed into dozens of roller tubes and then placed into a roller drum. Unhopeful Dr. Gey’s assistant Mary checked the cells daily for any growth. After two days, Mary discovered that “Henrietta’s cells weren’t merely surviving, they were growing with mythological intensity.” (Skloot, 40) Dr. George Gey and his staff began notifying their closest colleagues the possibility of the discovery of the first immortal human cells. It was finally possible to grow human cells outside the body.
Gey’s success began many experiments for other scientists throughout the world. The immortal “HeLa” cells quickly became the go-to research cells. “Her cells were part of research into the genes that cause cancer and those that suppress it; they helped develop drugs for treating herpes,