HELA

This past week I received early presents as my birthday draws near, from my dear sister Rosie. Books, sometimes dvd's, my baby sister knows my deep appreciation for the written word and how I try to reflect it through my passions for writing.

One book in particular "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" or "HE-LA," the code name scientist gave to this woman and her cells. Cut from her cervix as a malignant tumor was growing inside and she oblivious to it all. 

Henrietta was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors. HeLa became important tools in science & medicine as they were the first cells grown in cultures that NEVER DIED.

Henrietta passed away in 1951 from cervical cancer but before she died as I mentioned, a surgeon took samples of her cervix and put them in a petri dish. Scientists had been experimenting for decades trying to keep human cells alive in cultures unsuccessfully. Henrietta's stayed alive reproducing an entire generation every 24 hours never stopping.

Secrets???.  All this done without permission; without her knowledge before her death and without her families after her death. Truth be told, Henrietta Lacks' remains, "unknown" buried in a unmarked grave and no one can say where she is buried.

Oh wait...let me put "my surprise face on."

Yes these cells which have been know as HELA bought and sold by the trillions around the world. A multi-million dollar industry, the selling of human biological materials. HELA cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, cloning, gene mapping, and many, many more uses that help lead to important advances in medicine. Now getting back to the "secret."

Doctors, scientists, government however you want to look at it, why, why, why keep this hidden from her loved ones??? "If Henrietta was so important to science, to medicine, WHY couldn't her own children afford health insurance?" You would think that science would appreciate and do right by her family and grateful for the miracles accomplished using HELA cells. 

Will things EVER CHANGE?? Like...oh I don't know...maybe, "stepping on the back of the oppressed?" 

Avarice I'm sure is a huge  part of it.  But no doubt a bigger picture of secrecy and too taboo for our delicate ears. Heaven forbid if they tell us the truth. "Don't tell the masses, god knows the people might hurt themselves with it." Yeah okay whatever. Its obvious "They" cannot handle the truth so THEY are the ones that stress out and hide it!

Anyways..............................

This book has captivated my attention because we live in a great country why all the secrecy? I suppose this great country was built on secrets all along.

What has happened to our virtues? Our honor? The distinction between right and wrong? I truly believe we lost them along with The Ark of The Covenant somewhere in the ancient night. I suppose our tender morals and rot share a border. The rot eventually oozes over deep and sweet, so subtle, decaying the soul's light of morality.

And so it is, sadly.   

~LJLS