"For decades, scientists collected tissue from patients without consent, searching for cells that could live outside the human body." "In 1951, a woman entered a hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and everything changed." "Gosh almighty!" "The Johns Hopkins Science Review, with Dr. George Gey." "In this jar, we have a sample of cancerous human tissue." "This sample is unique because it's the first cell line we discovered in over 30 years that can survive and reproduce indefinitely." "With this, scientists will perform unprecedented experiments on humans." "Growing like crabgrass." "Free of charge." "Well, how many vials do you want?" "Known as HELA, this strain was given to labs around the world." "Used by doctors and scientists for experiments and research." "Starting with Doctor Salk's polio vaccine." "Who owns the vaccine patent?" "The people." "There's no patent." "Would you patent the sun?" "Did you know the donor?" "No, but towards her death," "I leaned over her hospital bed." "By this time she was unconscious." "I told her "your cells will help many people and make you immortal"." "What was her name?" "We see no reason why a good story can't be written without her name." "George, rather than risk trouble for disclosing it, the cell strain should be referred to as HELA, and the patient's name not be used." "Helen." "Helen Lane." "She Died Giving World Hope In Cancer Fight" "In 1954, Microbiological Associates began selling HeLa cells, which gave birth to the biomedical industry." "INVOICE HeLa Cell Line" "PAID" "Remarkable advances in medicine and surgery, that are bringing us tomorrow's medicine." "HELA GENETICS MEDICAL BREAKDOWN" "TUBERCULOSIS NEW ADVANCEMENT" "CANCER RESEARCH LEUKEMIA" "HERPES 6 NEW TREATMENT "IN VITRO" PIONEERING" "INFLUENZA" "AIDS" "PARKINSON'S DISEASE" "HPV 6 TESTING WITH HELA UNDERWAY" "THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS" "For years, it seemed like a dream." "Not knowing what was going on." "Not knowing who to go to for understanding." "Didn't even know how to talk about it." "About our mother, could this be true?" "We miss you." "And we love you, mama." "Freelance science and medical writer and editor." " With a degree in..." " Biological Sciences." "And this represents the entirety of your journalistic career." "Yes, thus far." "Deborah is Henrietta's baby girl." "Family calls her Dale." "She's 50 now, living in Baltimore, with grandchildren around." "She's the most determined to know about her mother, and the most vulnerable." "She came near a stroke recently, because of the agony she suffered, regarding the inquiries into her mother's death and those cells." "I won't be a part of anyone doing that to her." "No, I..." "What can you tell me about African-Americans and science?" "From 1932 to '72, the US Public Health Services withheld treatment from a group of colored men infected with syphilis, so they could study the long-term effects of the disease." " I know I'm white..." " And from Portland." "Yes, that's right." "But, when I was in high school, my father got very sick and ended un in a research study." "In my opinion, the hospital didn't behave in the most ethical manner." "I remember being very angry about that." "At the same time I was taking a biology class at a public college." "The teacher told us about the cells and how they helped with every major medical breakthrough, and they belonged to a black woman named Henrietta Lacks." "After the class, I asked him, "What can you tell me about her?"" "When he told me he didn't know anything, I got obsessed with it." "Dr. Pattillo, the Lacks family trusts you." "If you can help be connect with Henrietta Lacks's children," "I would be so grateful." "Yeah, who's this?" "Hi, my name's Rebecca Skloot." "How are you?" " Dr. Pattillo gave me the number." " How's he doing?" "Fine." "I'm not sure how much he told you about what I'm trying to do." "Just that you have questions about my momma's cells." "Yes." "Well..." "I want to write a book about your mother." "There's all this stuff about her cells." "But nobody ever wrote about her, or her life." "That's why I've been trying to track you and family down to see if you would be interested in working with me and just telling me more about her." "All I got to say about that is..." "Hallejujah!" "Finally!" "Somebody wants to talk about my mama." "In my childhood, nobody talked about nobody who wasn't alive." "My whole life I grew up not knowing the littlest things, like her favorite color, or what happened to her clothes, her shoes." "I know the watch and ring got stolen before my brother killed that boy." "What exactly did her cells do?" "Girl, get ready." "This story is crazy enough for three books!" "I'm ready." "Bet you didn't know mom's sis converted herself to Puerto Rican." "And that state hospital they called "the hospital for crazy negros", we are not skipping that." "Plus all the things I've been dying to know, but don't because she died when I was so young." "Did she breastfeed me?" "Did she love to dance?" "It sounds like we want to do similar things here." "I live in Pittsburgh and don't have a publisher yet, but I'm committed." " Grandma, mail!" " Oh, God." "Can't talk to you now." "Mail." "Gotta go." "Now listen." "Call me late Monday afternoon." "I'm out with my grandchildren." " What did you say your name was?" " Rebecca Skloot." "You can call me..." "Mail!" "Deborah?" "Okay..." " Hello?" " Deborah, hi." "It's Rebecca." " Can't talk." " Shall I call back..." "Done talking." "My brothers say I ought to write a book myself, but I ain't no writer." "Can't talk to you." "Why?" "Did somebody come, Deborah?" "Talk to the men." "Sonny." "Lawrence." "If you give me a chance, we can spend some time together and..." "I don't want to get hurt again." "So I'm in Baltimore in a parking lot, waiting for Sonny Lacks to come and to introduce me to the family." "I hope Deborah might be there." "God, he's actually here." "Yeah." "I told you I'd be passing." "I'll be there, right?" "OK." "Bye." " Miss Rebecca!" " Hi." " Happy new year." " Happy new year." " You're a hard man to track down." " Busy man, Miss Rebecca." " That's good." " No, it's not." "Okay." "Let me get my stuff." "Will Deborah be there today?" "No." "Lawrence will check you out." "He'll decide what's what." "I told you I'm in a meeting." "You can do that in the car." "This a mobile office." "Can I turn this on?" "Go ahead." "There's nothing on the radio." " Your cell always ring that much?" " Rippin' and runnin', Miss Rebecca." "What's your earliest memory of your mother?" "I hear she was pretty." "Lawrence is old enough to remember." "Me, Dale, Zakariyya, we got no memories at all." " Lawrence was a teenager?" " Around 15." " Zak-a-ERE-ya?" " Changed his name in prison." "Good thing he ain't here to hear you mispronounce it." "Just messing with you." "Here's where we take scientists and reporters who ask about mom, so the whole family can gang up on them." "You seem nice enough, so I won't get Zakariyya." " There you go." " Thank you." " Which house is Lawrence's?" " Good luck." "Hello?" "Hello?" "Hello?" "Is anybody..." "Come on in." "I'm Rebecca." "Rebecca Skloot." "Wanna taste the meat?" "My wife thinks I cook 'em too long." "How can I resist?" "Lawrence, do you mind if I..." "Sonny told me you're the only one who remembers your mom." "I blacked most memories out, because of the sadness and hurt." "I found this cool thing." "Using techniques HELA helped develop, scientists can take a piece of a person's cornea and grow it in a dish to help treat blindness." " Imagine that." " Right?" "It is a miracle." " I hoped I could meet Deborah." " No, just the men." "My wife is a fire dragon without her morning coffee." "Come in the front room while I take it up." "Take your time, daddy." "Like how she decorated the house?" " Miss Rebecca." " Sonny." " This is our father." " Nice to meet you." "Lawrence, it's after 2 and you just taking Barbara her morning coffee?" " Miss Rebecca, run while you can." " Pay him no mind." "Pops, did you know mom's cells will make Stevie Wonder see?" "No surprise in that." "They're not put into people's eyes, but..." "Pop, Miss Rebecca wanna know everything Dale always asking about." "I'm writing a book about Henrietta." "But I'm missing information about her and her life, what she liked to do..." " She was born in Roanoke?" " Yeah." "Raised in Clover." "Didn't like Baltimore much, so every summer, she'd head on down to Clover, call herself tendin' a lil'bit of tobacca." "Pick it, string it." "Even after she got sick." "When did you first hear about your wife's cells and..." "Hopkins called to say come on up there cause she died." "They wanna do an autopsy." "They said it'll help your kids in case they get cancer." "When I wanted to claim the body, the doctors told me nothing about keeping her alive in them tubes." "What you expect?" "I wouldn't go to Hopkins to get my nails cut." "Remember when we were little, if you were bad, the old folks would threaten to put you out so those Hopkins Night Doctors could get you." "Hopkins was known for snatching black folks, experimenting on them." "You'd be surprised how many people disappeared in East Baltimore." " He'd snatch them off the street." " It might be a myth." "You know what is a myth?" "Saying Henrietta Lacks donated them cells." "She donated nothing." " That's right." " They took them and didn't ask." "That is the story and why it needs to be told." "If this will help mankind, I can't imagine someone not wanting to." "But be forthright." "Inform the family." " Show a little respect." " Drop a little note." "A postcard." "Hopkins say they gave the cells away, but they made millions." "A friend's brother-in-law worked in a lab over in D.C." "She introduced us and he said, Lacks, that's funny." "For years I worked with the cells of a woman who died of cervical cancer, named Henrietta Lacks." "And explains how anytime he wants more, all he has to do is order them from a supplier, like everybody else." "Day's got gangrene, toes need amputating." "Sonny, a bad heart." "Lawrence, high blood pressure." "And Dale's run herself into the ground over all the wrong done." "This family is the only ones who haven't made a dime off of their own mother's cells." "If you're gonna write this book about my mama and want my help, first, tell everybody her name wasn't Helen Lane or whatever." "Second, everybody talk about how Henrietta Lacks got four kids." "That ain't right." "She got five." "My sister Elsie got sent away to that Crownsville place and I don't know why!" "So we're not leaving my sister out." "My brothers are upset cause everybody make money off our mama's cells, but I don't care about that." "What I care about is knowing about my sister and about my mother." "And you gotta promise me, no matter what, you won't lie and you won't keep nothing from me." "I promise." "You better get yourself ready, girl, because you got no idea what you're getting yourself into." "Hi!" "Hi, I'm Rebecca." "Nice to meet you, finally." "Finally is right." " Can I help you?" " No, I'm alright." " Mind this here." " Here's my card." "Just in case." "Swore I wouldn't ever talk again about my momma." "But here I am." "I hope I don't regret this." "Okay..." " Can I start..." " Go ahead." "I'm the gray child." "Because I'm the one doing all the worrying about mom's cells." " I can only imagine." " Nothing but lies and deceit." "I'm good, thanks." "But no matter what, my mother's always been there, watching out for..." "Look at that salad bar!" "When you say she's always been there, what..." "What you don't understand is we didn't know nothing." "Till that Asian lady from Hopkins showed up." "Daddy, why they want our blood?" "Testing to see if you got the cancer that killed your mama." " Did you know my mama?" " Know her cells." "Everybody does." "They've been in outer space, in a nuclear bomb." "You should be proud." "She said "everybody knows her." She's been in bombs, outer space." " Mama's cells have been..." " Gal, hush!" "We buried your mama when you was two." "You alive or you dead." "Can't be both." "Finally, somebody did call me back, asking for more of my blood." "What made my Mother sick?" "What kind of cancer?" "Will I get it?" "How can she rest in peace if they keep shooting her up into space?" "Did she get hurt when they blew her up in those bombs?" "Here is everything you need to know." "MEDICAL GENETICS" "They never told you they looked for genetic markers unique to your mom?" "Keep talking." "After HeLa scientists figured out how to grow lots of other cell lines using these cells in research and experiments." "When HeLa came in contact with other cell, it would completely take over." "HeLa was unstoppable." "It travelled through ventilation systems." "Moved from lab to lab." "They wanted samples of your DNA." "So they could tell which cells had been contaminated by HeLa and which had not." "Deborah, they weren't testing you for cancer." "They were just using you and your brothers for research." "So, if it hadn't had been for her cells causing all that damage, they never would have come knocking on our door." "What Hopkins done to mom never would have started to come out." "Mess with Henrietta." "And she set HeLa on your ass." "Bet she's here right now." "Watching your every move." "This is all I got about mom's cells." "Went to the market." "Something told me pick this up." " Scared me half to death." " I understand." "This is..." "What about this?" "And just like Hopkins stole my mama's cells, this doctor steals a woman's eggs and clones an army of little boys that look just like our dead sons!" " That's science fiction." " It all sounds like that." "Then I thought how many people in London look like my mother." "Why would they be..." ""The cells known as HELA could populate a village with their clones."" "They didn't clone her, just her cells." "I want to learn everything I can about my mama's cells." "I want to go to labs." "I want to meet people." "When I think about what Hopkins did to my mom, my blood grows cold." "But one day, I'll even go to Hopkins." "I'm tired of wanting to know and hiding." "I've been carrying this for a long time." "It's a Mother's Day card." ""May the spirit of the Lord and Savior be with you"" ""on this day on which you were honored for all the love"" ""you have given your family and your loved ones."" ""From your daughter, Deborah."" "I have something for you." "They're Henrietta's cells." "It's a gift from a research doctor at Johns Hopkins." "His way of saying thank you, for what your mother did for science." "In vitro fertilization, the Aids cocktail, chemotherapy drugs." "Deborah, there's no person alive who hasn't benefited from your mom's cells." "Who's this?" "My big sis, Elsie." "Died so young." "Never new her." " She was so beautiful." " She's pretty." "Are these your mother's medical records?" " No!" " No, I'm sorry." "I wasn't trying to..." "Right." "What you trying to do to my mama's medical records?" "Nothing." "I thought you put them there for me." "We are not ready for that!" "I wasn't trying to do anything bad." "I want to learn the story of your mom." "Just like Sir Lord." "Don't know who to trust." "Deborah!" "Got a phone call this morning from my brother, Zakariyya." "Things ain't been good for him since he got out of jail." "But I'm pretty sure he's ready to talk about our mother again." ""Pretty sure"?" "Long as we get there before he starts drinking, you'll be fine." "Boys!" "I don't want y'all running off around here or anywhere, okay?" "There he is." "Hey, Zakariyya!" " Said you'll be here in an hour." " Didn't want to be late." " I'm not ready!" " Take your time." "Damn kids!" "I'll be up there." "In that window." "Anything get funny, just wave." "Boys, come on here." "Let's go." "Hi." "I'm Rebecca." "POLICE DEPT." " Dale said you have a magazine..." " Yes." "This is an article I wrote on your mother." "Can I..." "You work for Hopkins?" "No." "They just published the article." "I work for myself." " Over here." "My hearing." " Sorry." "I guess I don't count." "Sonny not the youngest!" "I didn't do the captions..." "Got two dummies for brothers." "Don't have enough sense to spit." "My father buried my mother in an unmarked grave." "And when that fool die, I don't want to know where." "He need a ride to the hospital, he can take a cab." " I used to go there." " To Johns Hopkins?" "Needed money." "Checked myself into this program." "A research program?" "One time they paid me money just to watch me sleep." "Other time I needed new glasses so I let them test this drug." "If they'd known I was Henrietta's son, who knows what they'd do." "She was sick when she was pregnant with you." "I figured." "I had to start fighting before I was born." "They say her cells this and that." "Didn't do her no good." "Or us." "I hope that George Grave burning in Hell." " His name's actually..." " Who cares?" "What he did was wrong." "God handles that." "God want to have a disease cured, He provides one." "You don't mess with that." "You don't lie and clone people behind their back." "If he was here I would kill him." "Stick a pitchfork up his ass." "Y'all done reporting?" "Me and Zakariyya, we a lot alike." "We can't shut our feelings on and off like everybody else." "Once something's done, it stays inside." "It don't go away." "Come on." "Walk us back to the car." ""Welcome to Clover"." "I feel welcome." "Looks like somebody went to lunch two decades ago and forgot to come back." "How you doing?" " Your muffler?" " What?" "Yes, thank you sir." "I got it." "Muffler." "Let's see if you and that recorder can get my mama's family to talk." "So Gladys is Henrietta's sister?" "And Sadie's her cousin and best friend from when they were girls." "Lookie here!" " Miss Sadie!" " Deborah, so good so see you." "There's cousin Cootie!" "Cousin Cliff, good to see you." "Y'all meet my reporter." "Look at Gladys up here!" "How you doing, Aunt Gladys." "Nice to see you." "Come in." "Nice and cool." "Just so I don't miss anything." "How long did you know Henrietta for?" "We don't believe in telling stories on the dead." "I hear she was very nice." "Very good conditioned." "Pretty teeth." "So what else can you tell me about her?" "Well..." "Henny made the good come out of you." "She made life come alive." "Every year a carnival come to town and we'd ride the Ferris wheel." "When our car stopped at the top, we'd scream." "Just scream." "When did you move to Turner Station?" "December, 1942." "If the Japanese ain't attacked, colored never woulda had jobs over there at Bethlehem Steel." "Day used to work the night shift, so 'round 11, me and Hennie would sneak over to the The Twin Pines." " Amos Milburn playing on the box." " Down the road." " Me and Henny swinged out heavy!" " Heavy!" "Two-step across the floor!" "Go, Sadie!" "Spin, girl!" "Come on y'all, dance!" "When all her cousins moved to Turner Station," "Hennie take care of them." " Which cousin are you?" " Cousin Fred, ma'am." "Don't "ma'am" me." "I'm too young." "Call me Henrietta." "Bring the plate." "Half them fools wasn't relations, but she'd feed 'em just the same." "Everybody in here family." "Make sure you have enough." "She always kept herself real pretty." " Lord, Day lost his mind." " You looking good, baby." "Fingers and toenails painted red." "Cousin Billy is the best carpenter 'sides Jesus." "Right?" " I guess." " "I guess"?" "If you be it, say it." " Ain't that right?" " Right." "Okay, girl." "Go on over there." " That's the way your mother was." " What all did she cook." "Rice Pudding." "Slow-cooked greens." "Neck bones." "No neck bones." "Neck bones, me!" " Put that in the recorder." " Thank you, Aunt Gladys!" "Me!" "Henrietta took care of me when my polio got bad." "That's why she used her cells." "To help others get rid of it." "One thing I'll never forget." "When word spread Henrietta was sick, every man who could walk, and a few who couldn't, made their way to Hopkins." "I'm here to give blood in case she needs it." " It's got dirt and straw floors." " Wood underneath." " When was this built?" " During slavery." "But nobody lived here for 35, 40 years." "Since your mama." "I think about you all the time, Mama." "Wish I could see and hold you the way I know you held me." "Because I know I'm a part of you." "And you're a part of me..." "Henrietta's buried over there somewhere." "Better get you snake stick." "Snake stick?" "If there's a snake I'm hiding behind you." " Sometimes they hide in the trees." " Snakes don't hide in trees." "Look for your Grandma's tombstone." "She's joking about the snakes in trees, right?" "There she is." "Eliza Pleasant." "So Henrietta was only four when she died." "She lost her mother young, just like me." "Henrietta is buried in one of these unmarked graves." "Elsie too." "Elsie was one pretty little girl." "Stared at you with those sad, brown eyes, hands a-wavin', cawin' like a bird." "Couldn't do a thing for herself." "Hennie had to feed her, bathe her." "Day drove her to every tent show so preachers could see her." "Nothing helped." "This one time," "Elsie run smack dead in the middle of traffic." "Scared Hennie half to death." "What was it that made Henrietta finally send her to Crownsville?" "It was more than she could handle." "You and Sonny was just babies." "Little Zakariyya on the way." "She fought against it 'till she couldn't." "The day she sent Elsie to Crownsville, Hennie like to die." "When I got back to the motel..." "God, ticks, up and down my legs!" "What's that right there?" "I'm done with you." "I'll start sending you articles and essays and everything else I discover." "I want you to know about it." "Send them all." "Once I write and find an editor, I'll be ready to hit the road again." " Count me in." " Really?" " Yeah." " Okay, great." "When the time's right, we must go to Crownsville." "And get a phone." "You shouldn't be on the back roads without one." "Alright." "Get this muffler fixed, too." "It's embarrassing!" "There's a photo on my wall of a woman I never met, its left corner torn and patched together with tape." "She looks straight into the camera and smiles, lips painted deep red." "They're not saying Henrietta wasn't human." "Sure sounds like it to me." "Her cells changed so much, it's as if they're their own species." "The long one says how HeLa cells helped launch stem cell research." "Go, HeLa!" "That's my mother!" "Working on HeLa was the highlight of my career." "When Dr. McKusick said "go get this blood drawn", I did." "Were you aware the Lackses thought you where testing them for cancer?" "I think there was no effort to explain anything in detail." "It's not like those people would have understood, anyway." "I was shocked." "I don't know why." "They see me coming, they lock the door." "They see you coming, it's "Rebecca, come on in"." "Say things they wouldn't say, at least to my face." "So go ahead on, girl." "Keep on being white." "Good news." "I found a publisher for the book." "'Course you did." "That's my mother paving the way." " Can you ask her to pave it faster?" " Ask her yourself." "Hi." "Rebecca." " Sorry I'm a bit late." " No problem." "You know I'm sincere when I say you're a great writer." "But..." "We got a bit of a problem." " The family." " What about them?" " The mentally damaged daughter." " What's poignant about Elsie is..." "The indigent, ex-con brother." "Zakariyya spent his first year in an incubator at Johns Hopkins..." "The depressive daughter with 27 different ailments." "Henrietta's story is about legacies." "Cultural, personal and racial." " We got a contract." " This family lost their mother..." "I wrote a few notes." "Eliminate the family and keep writing." "Rebecca?" "Sasha Walz, Danbury Publishing." " We have a situation." " What kind of situation?" "A PATH train Bill was on overshot the platform." "Bill fell and suffered a concussion." "He's experiencing a temporary loss in memory." "I see you met last week." "Remember what you talked about?" "He wasn't happy with the book, so we agreed to part ways." "That's what happens when you take her children out of the book." "Henrietta will throw your ass off a train!" " Deborah..." " Everywhere." "She everywhere." ""She filled her bathtub, got into the warm water"" ""and slowly spread her legs."" ""Henrietta slid a finger inside and rubbed it across her cervix"" ""until she found what she somehow knew she'd find."" ""A hard lump."" "What time tomorrow shall I get here?" "I didn't ask you." "I asked her." "You speaking for her." "Sonny." "Wait till you see this picture I got of our Mother's cells." "This oncologist Rebecca knows over at Hopkins gave it to me." "He wants us to come see our mother's real cells." "Are you gonna go?" "Thinking about it." "Hopkins lies to us." "And deceives us." "Takes, steals and tells us nothing." "All of a sudden Rebecca comes along and you're choosing her." "Choosing Hopkins over your family." " Why are you attacking me?" " You need to stop." "If you want to dig up graves, don't take us along for the ride." "Barbara and I have always protected you." " And I'm grateful." " When you were pregnant with Alfred..." "The only thing kept me going was knowing mama loved and missed me." " Keeping you in school." " I am not stopping!" "Lawrence will keep getting upset." "And Dale will do what she wants." " You don't remember!" " Go ahead." "How thin she got." "Whatever they put in her burnt her inside and out." "Dale, why did Gey used Helen Lane instead of Henrietta Lacks?" "Rebecca showed me the papers." "He wanted to use her name, but..." " Hopkins got rich off of our Mom!" " Hopkins ain't made a dime." "Rebecca says what Hopkins wants, and you dumb enough to believe her." "I'll check on Davon." "Dale." "All those trips the two of you take, who pays?" "Thank you, Barbara." "It was a lovely meal." "Once they get what they want, they'll leave you to die." "Just like they did Mama." "Hi, I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow." "Remember the first time we talked and I didn't wanna see you?" " Yeah." " Who told you to go to Clover?" "Sonny." "And Dr. Pattillo, and I read somewhere..." "Sonny didn't mention that." "I don't know, Rebecca." "I'm not doing anything behind your back, I swear." "Your card say you a freelance medical writer and editor." "You say you're doing all this on your own." " So, I don't know about that." " Freelance just means that..." "I know what it means." "But everybody got somebody backing 'em." "Nobody have the money to do all these things: traveling, recording." "Deborah, I swear." "I haven't gotten a penny for anyone." "So, let's talk about this book It's all fine and good." "But where's the funding in there for the family?" " I don't have any." " You ain't offered none, either." "I don't have it." "I told you I want to start that foundation..." "Where is the book?" "You said you turned it in, so where is the book?" " There's no book yet." " I said where's the book?" "Is it for sale already?" "Making money off our family?" " Where is the book?" "!" " Look, here!" "MasterCard." "Visa." "2000 dollars past due." "Travel expenses." "I write cheesy articles to pay for rooms and gas." "Checking account. 87 dollars." "Okay, Deborah?" "I swear to you, no one's given me any money." "Before you called, that first time..." "This Alabama snake entered our lives." "Sir Lord Keenan Kester Cofield, Esquire." " And you are?" " The cure to all that ails." "In no time, he had everybody cheering him on." "We can all lift up our heads with the knowledge that Henrietta Lacks helped cure polio." "That's right." "But still, John Hopkins Hospital is guilty of medical grand larceny." " I've been saying that!" " That's right." " And somebody's going to pay." " Yes." "After dealing with John Hopkins," "I'll walk over to the office of every bio tech CEO and demanding reparations to the tune... of sixty million dollars!" " Oh my God!" " Lord have mercy!" "It's easy to hope when you've been powerless for so long." "And then, guess who called?" "Richard Wilson, attorney with Johns Hopkins Hospital." "I'm calling about Sir Lord Cofield." "He is not a lawyer." " Deborah, no." " ..." "Incarcerated in Alabama." "Since his release, Mr. Cofield has been masquerading as an attorney." "Suing everybody." "Left and right." "Burger King for cooking their French fries in pork fat." "And the Chattanoogo Times for printing my obituary." "Which he wrote and submitted himself!" "I am calling because last week Mr. Cofield came to the hospital demanding a copy of your mother's medical records." "I'll walk through fire before you touch anything of my mother's." "Gal... you ain't the only one ain't scared of fire." "Just like that, Mr. Corrective-To- All-That-Ails set out to do us in." "He sued everybody." "Hopkins, me, Sonny, Lawrence, Barbara." "Every day another summons." "Child, I was a mess." "Then one day I'm home by myself." "Another one of Lord's summons'." "I knew she died when she was 15." "But not in that place." "Just to think about her in there, all alone..." "In the same summons, he wrote about this book." "A CONSPIRACY OF CELLS" "When I saw my mom's picture I read her autopsy report." "My nerves just broke." "They took me to every doctor and psychiatrist." "You name it, they said I had it." "Paranoia, schizophrenia, anxiety." "Dale..." "All I know is that when I get in that mood and I get frightened," "I just..." "I wanna hide." " And this all happened..." " Just before you called." "My mama's medical records is..." "It's all I have." "The only thing I have that don't nobody else have." "When the time is right, I'll share them." "But I get to say when that is." "Elsie, I'm coming to find out about you and take you home." "Ready?" "CROWNSVILLE HOSPITAL CENTER" "Where is everybody?" "Hello?" "There it is." "What the hell?" "Hello?" "Anybody here?" "Hello?" "Somebody come help us." " Can I help you?" " I'm looking for my sister." " What is this in reference to?" " Guess I just got invisible." "My sister was a patient here until she got killed in 1955." "So I'd appreciate it if you'd point us to her files." "That door say "Medical Records", but they ain't nowhere." "What was your sister's name?" "Was Crownsville always predominantly African-American?" "Until '63." "Be prepared." "Sometimes learning is as painful as not knowing." "I always tell my brothers;" "you gonna go into history, you can't have no hate attitude." "I am ready." "I've been ready." "I'm afraid Crownsville was not a nice place to be back then." "Let me see." "No holding back." "We had a serious asbestos problem." "Here we go." "Of the thousands of autopsies this is all that remains." " The year she died?" " 1955." "This is..." "No. 1940. 45..." "Incredible. 1955!" " Her full name?" " Elsie Lacks." " Her name was Elsie?" " Elsie Lacks." "Oh my goodness, there she is!" "Oh, my gosh!" "I can't believe this." "This is impossible!" "Thank you, Mother." "Thank God." "I found my sister!" "I've never seen a picture in one of these reports." "Let me see!" "Why they holding her neck like that?" "They shouldn't." "What are they doing here?" "Put that document down now!" "This is the family of a former patient!" "My birth certificate, my sister's, and Power of Attorney." "Now get me a copy of her records, her picture, so we can leave." "How are you feeling?" "Time to take my sister back to Clover!" ""This message over to you now..."" "This my mother." "She in history because of her cells." "This my sister." "We just found her today." "Her eyes look puffy." "Deborah!" "This my reporter." "We're going to Clover." "Ever been there?" " You need to go to Clover." "Bye." " Come, I need to talk to you." "We're tired." "Why don't we go to the motel now, check in, and then we can drive to Clover in the morning?" "Let's do that!" "Here you go." "My mama's records." " You sure?" " Knock yourself out." "I'm going to bed." "Not going to bed." "Let's get busy." "What you got?" "28-year-old woman." "Rh-positive." "November 2, 1949."" "This is three days before you were born." "Let me see!" ""August 8th, 1951."" ""Tubes filled with radium were placed inside her cervix and sewed into..."" "Let me see that." "Why don't we call and see if there's a Kinko's nearby?" "Why?" "There's over 100 pages here." "Some are in bad condition." "We won't be able to read them all and take notes tonight." "I can read." "You can take notes." ""August 8th, 1951. 30-year-old colored woman." "Cervical biopsy."" "Wait." "Can I see?" "This could be when Johns Hopkins first took a sample." "Enough of that Hopkins!" ""Lucille Elsie Lacks." "Pneumo..."" "Encephalography." "To prevent the brain fluid blurring X-rays, doctors drilled holes in the skull and pumped air into the brain." "Deborah, are you okay?" ""Elsie Lacks, ten-years-old." "January 20."" " You were only two months old..." " Turn that off." "I do not want you putting that in the book." " Don't put that in the book!" " I won't, I promise." "You smiling cause you're lying." "No, I think it's sweet you want to protect your sister." " That's why I'm smiling." " Who's paying you?" " We've been through this." " Johns Hopkins?" " Hopkins!" " Get the fuck off me!" "Jesus, how many times do I have to tell you I'm working for myself." "Not for Johns Hopkins or Sir Lord." "If you don't trust me after all we've been through, fuck off!" "I was anxious last night." "Took me an Ambien." "Painted my nails." "Did a horrible job." "Continental breakfast. 99 cents." "Save you some money." " Deborah, I..." " We a mess, girl." "But you got to promise me something." "You can't let me or nobody else keep you from writing the book." "And all that happened last night got to go in there too." " I'm not putting myself in there." " I won't be there by myself." "It's all part of the story now." "We okay, Boo?" " Are you okay?" " I get this way sometime." "You want to ride with me?" "I'll copyright mama's signature." "So can't nobody steal it." "Then I will set up a web page and have people do donations." "I'll use them to get a monument." "I'll put it on her grave." "Then I'll turn the Home-House into a museum." "We should find a doctor." "We should pull over..." "Nothing Benadryl won't fix." "Open this." "Inside I'll put a wax figure of her, of my mother." "And then, I'll put a wax figure, and then... some of her cells." "And then I'll have people come and watch them multiply." " Come on." "Bring your camera." " Deborah, slow down." "Deborah!" "Take a picture of me and my sister." "Now, the three of us on my mother's grave." "Hurry." "Weather's looking bad." "This is the only time the three of us will be together." "Listen." "Let's go back to the car." "I think this is..." "Deborah?" "Deborah!" "Lawrence stayed away." "Didn't want to see my mother put in the ground." "These welts don't mean nothing compared to the welts up and down Zakariyya's back." "Evil Aunt Ethel, who took care of us after mom died." "She hated us." "Daddy busy working." "Nobody looking." "She hated us!" "But she saved a special hate for little Zakariyya." "Just for him." "Sometimes in the middle of the night, for no reason." "She would stand him in the corner in the basement." "And she would beat..." "Beat the love out of him." "So this hurt ain't nothing compared to Galen," "Aunt Ethel's husband." "When I turned 15..." "Stop..." "Stop!" "Stop!" "If you put your hands on these kids ever again, so help me God, I'll kill you dead!" "Open your mouth to lie, bitch, and I'll do it now." "Sonny, Lil' Joe, you're coming home with me." "If my mama hadn't been..." "All of these bad things never would have happened." "My mother, she woulda slapped Aunt Ethel." "She'd have told Galen "Stop it, that's my daughter!"" ""Stop it, that's my daughter!" "Stop it..."" "Zakariyya wouldn't have had to go to jail." "He wouldn't have been so mean." "Everybody taking things they ain't got no right to." "That's why she got that look on her face." "But you know..." "Her mama ain't never coming back." "One day she got a mama." "And the next day she don't." "Ain't nobody even tell her why." "It's alright." "It's alright..." " I'm so sorry." " It's alright." " I'm so sorry." " It's alright!" " Hey, cuz." " Hey, Aunt Glad." "How you doing?" "Cuz look what I got from Crownsville." "It's my sister." " You don't seem so good." " I'm just having a reaction." "I'm swelling up because of all I'm learning about my mother." " It hurts me." " Come, sit." "Betcha didn't know they injected her with all kinds of poisons." "Relax!" "Only time I relax is when I'm driving here time." "When I think about what they did to mom..." "What's it called?" "They cloned her!" "Deborah, we talked about this." "They didn't do that, remember?" "No." "They mixed her with mice." "Now they saying she's not even human no more." "They gave mama AIDS." "They injected her into a monkeys." "They injected her..." "Don't hurt yourself over something beyond your power." "Let God handle it!" "I was just talking to God, and He trying to take over." "I've been trying to keep Him out of this, but he won't let me." "Lord, I lift up my hand and offer praises to You." "You are welcome in this place." "Welcome into this broken vessel." "Come, touch me, Lord." "Come touch me tonight." "I beg you." "We need your help." "Lift the burden off this woman." "Lift this burden, Lord." "Take it away!" "We don't need it." "You are welcome into this place." "Welcome into this broken vessel." "Show me the way, Lord." "Show me which way to go." "Take this burden from me, Lord." "Take this burden from me." " I don't want it no more." " You are not alone!" "You are not alone." "Let her carry them!" "Let her carry them!" "Let it go." "Let it go." "Let it go." "Let it go." "It's alright." "Let it go, baby." "Let it go." "I'm gonna come back tomorrow for some more of that!" "It's still raining out there." "Still raining." "Still raining..." "How does it feel when you're speaking those words and..." "What does that really feel like?" "That's just God telling Deborah that he cares." "Read." "Out loud." ""Those that believe in me will live, even though they died,"" ""and those who live and believe in me will never die."" "Henrietta was chosen." "When God chooses an angel to do his work, you never know what they will come back looking like." "So you believe 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 remembered the last time Hennie and me rode that wheel." "That breeze." "You can clear across to Sparrow's Point." "I got something inside me." "Hennie, don't tell me you're having another baby with that man." "Gladys!" "What kind of thing?" " Cancer." " Hennie, no..." "You gotta 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 got no time for crazy today." "Be good, otherwise you won't be able to go see them cells." " Christoph, hi." " Hi, Rebecca." " This is Deborah." "Christoph." " Hello." " This is Henrietta's son..." " Zakariyya Bari Abdul Rahman." "Zakariyya, Father of John the Baptist." "Bari, made of clay." "Abdul, service." "Rahman, most gracious." "I've been working with your mother's cells my entire life and this is truly an honor." "Please, follow me." "Thank you so much." "Miss." "Follow me." "Don't worry." "It's not dangerous." "Which one is our mother's cells?" "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." " There they are!" " Yeah." " Could I look at it, in the..." " Yes, please." "It's right here." "Dale, look." "Would you lookie here!" "Excuse me." "Would you hit the light, please?" "Oh, my God." "I can't think of anybody who deserves it more." "Picture on the count of three." "One, two, three." "Jabrea!" "Jabrea!" "Thank you." "Do you want me to send it to you, or come down and read it?" "Only certain parts." "Been thinking about going back to school." " To become a nurse's aide." " Fantastic!" "Time to get busy." "CHAPTER 38 THE LONG ROAD TO CLOVER" "On a sunny Sunday, I pull off the highway on the road to Clover." "As I pass one green field after the next..." "Deborah, hey!" "I'm headed to the Roanoke public records room." "I'll swing by Clover, check on Cliff." "You want to 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, tell your sis to stop messing around and return my calls." "Thanks." "When I die, I'm glad I won't have to tell my Mother everything, because she's been watching it all." "There won't be any words, just lots of hugging and crying." "Heaven looks just like Clover, Virginia." "My mother loved it more than anywhere else in the world." "I don't want to be immortal if it means living forever." "Everybody else die and get old while you stay the same, and that's just sad." "Three floors up." "Can you count?" "Say hey to 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 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!" "Deborah Lacks died in her sleep of a heart attack on May 12, 2009, nine months before the book was published." ""The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot was on the New York Times Bestseller List for six years." "Rebecca established The Henrietta Lacks Foundation in 2010." "Patient consent is not required for research on human tissue obtained during medical treatment, if the "donor's" identity is removed." "The Lacks family never received compensation for the use of Henrietta's cells." "THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS" "Subtitling GRETE MÜLLER"