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THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF
HENRIETTA LACKS
Chapters 18-19

CHAPTER 18 OBJECTIVE SUMMARY- “STRANGEST
HYBRID”
Scientist believe HeLa cells are very common, and they have
done many experiments with the cells. Scientist have sent the cells to
space, and they found two things: noncancerous cells grew normally and
HeLa cells became more powerful, and they grew more in each trip to
space. A scientist, George Hyatt, tried to use the cells as a cure to
wounds, but it lead to the cells becoming cancerous on the skin of the
wounded. Scientists continued to complete different studies to truly
understand HeLa cells. According to one of the scientist, Robert
Stevenson, the goal was to keep the field from degenerating into complete
chaos. In 1960, French researchers discovered that the cells clumped and
fused sometimes when exposed to certain viruses. Scientist later began
using cells from themselves and people they knew to find new results, and
they grew different things: prostate cancer, appendix, foreskin, and human
cornea. In 1965, Henry Harris and John Watkins fused HeLa cells with
mouse cells to create a HeLa-mouse hybrid. They later fused chicken
cells that couldn’t reproduce with HeLa cells, and they were able to
reproduce again. After all of their success, Harris and Watkins got a lot of
negative attention from “immorally” fusing animal cells with human cells.
Although there was a lot of trouble, scientist made a lot of discoveries
from HeLa cells.

CHAPTER 19- “THE MOST CRITICAL TIME ON THIS EARTH
IS NOW”
The family of Henrietta was positively and negatively impacted
by the success of her cells. Her fourth daughter, Deborah, got pregnant
with a baby, and she was sent to a school for young mothers. Lawrence
went into the field of business, and Sonny joined the Air Force. Joe, the
fifth, often got caught up in his irreverence to authority. While in the
military, Joe often purposefully earned his way into “the hole”. He felt as if
the hole was is getaway from his own issues. He felt like that because he
was often left in the basement alone as a child. Joe was sent home, and
he continued to get in trouble. The neighborhood “bully”, Ivy, tried to scare
Joe. He ended up beating Joe up, but Joe avenged himself on September
15, 1970 by stabbing Ivy in the heart. The family tried to move Joe to a
different city, so he could evade the police. Joe later used his own mind;
he decided to turn himself in to the Baltimore Police Headquarters. He
pleaded guilty, and received a 15 year sentence. Even in jail, Joe
managed to live in the hole. While in jail, Joe converted to the faith of
Islam, and he changed his name to Zakariyya Bari Abdul Rahman.
Deborah later left her abusive husband, and Zakariyya came out of jail
with sanity. Henrietta’s family reacted well and bad to the use of her
cells, but things later fell into place.

ANSWER KEY
1. Noncancerous cells grew normally.
2. HeLa cells became more powerful.
3. George Hyatt
4. 1960
5. 1965
6. Henrietta’s 4th child
7. Zakariyya
8. He felt comfortable in the hole, and he liked isolation from when he was a child.
9. He stabbed Ivy in the heart.
10. Islam

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The immortal life of henrietta lacks

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