Thank you Mrs. Lacks!

Life can be so unfair at times. I was thinking that while listening to Rebecca Skloot talk about her book, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", this evening. (Shout out to Michael Smerconish for featuring this author on his radio show. BTW Mike, I am still waiting for my check. You can't just steal a brother's logo and not break him off with something.)

So here is the story: Mrs. Lacks visits Johns Hopkins Medical Center (The "colored" section. It was, after all, 1951.) after experiencing pain in the area of her cervix. She was later diagnosed with cervical cancer. During her treatment doctors removed samples of her tumor for research purposes. (Without her knowledge or permission.) The cells from the tumor would eventually become the "He La immortal cell line" which is a very important and often used cell line in biomedical research.

Mrs. Lacks' cells were special, because, unlike no other cells before, they could be kept alive and even grow. Here is a quote from Wiki:

"..Demand for the HeLa cells quickly grew. Since they were put into mass production, Henrietta's cells have been mailed to scientists around the globe for "research into cancer, AIDS, the effects of radiation and toxic substances, gene mapping, and countless other scientific pursuits".[11] HeLa cells have been used to test human sensitivity to tape, glue, cosmetics, and many other products.[1] Scientists have grown some 20 tons of her cells.[1][15]

Doctors still have not discovered the reason for HeLa cells' unique vigor, but suspect that it is due to altered telomerase function. There are almost 11,000 patents involving HeLa cells.[1]

In the early 1970s, the family started getting calls from researchers who wanted blood samples from them to learn the family's genetics (eye colours, hair colours, and genetic connections). The family wondered why and this is when they learned about the removal of Henrietta's cells. No one else in the family had the traits that made her cells unique .."

That's all great, and, by all accounts, billions of dollars have been made by bio research companies thanks to this woman's unique cells. Now she is getting all kinds of posthumous recognition, and a movie by Oprah is in the works. The irony is, of course, that her family remains poor. And they cannot even afford to get health coverage today for their own ailments.

This quote from Ruth Faden in the Baltimore Sun is on the money:

"The contrast is stunning between the well-endowed world of biomedical research and the situation of the Lacks family, and it contributes to our unease about the inequities in our society generally, but especially when it comes to health care."

Folks, I hope that the next time you hear a wingnut ranting about "Obamacare" you will think of Mrs. Lacks.