Henrietta Lacks Bio, Age, Life, Net Worth, Family & More

Publish date: 2024-06-29

Henrietta Lacks bio, age, career, net worth, family & more-Henrietta Lacks is an African-American woman who was born on August 1, 1920.

The HeLa cell line, the first immortalized human cell line and one of the most significant cell lines in medical research was created from the cancer cells of this woman.

READ ALSO: Henrietta Lacks Parents: Meet Eliza And John Randall Pleasant

Lacks was born in Roanake, Virginia in the United States of America. She was born to Eliza Pleasant and John Randall Pleasant.

Henrietta Lacks nationality

Lacks was born in Roanoke, Virginia in the United States of America. She was an American.

Henrietta Lacks age

Lacks was born on August 1, 1920 and she died on October 4, 1951. She was 31 years of age at the time of her death.

Henrietta Lacks net worth

Lacks’ net worth has not been specified on the internet at the moment.

Henrietta Lacks height and weight

Lacks was 5ft tall and weighed 50-60kg.

Henrietta Lacks education

Lacks attended the designated black school two miles away from the cabin until she had to drop out to help support the family when she was in the sixth grade.

Henrietta Lacks life

Lacks was described as having hazel eyes, a slim waist, size 6 shoes, red nail varnish on her always, and a skirt with tidy pleats. She was given the nickname Hennie, however, her family is unsure of how her name changed from Loretta to Henrietta.

Lacks’ mother passed away in 1924, just after giving birth to her tenth child, when she was four years old. Lacks’s father relocated the family to Clover, Virginia after losing his wife and being unable to care for the kids alone. There, the kids were split up among relatives. 7

Lacks eventually settled in a two-story log cabin that had been the slave quarters on the property that had been owned by Henrietta’s white great-grandfather and great-uncle, Thomas “Tommy” Henry Lacks, with her maternal grandpa.

Her future husband, David “Day” Lacks (1915-2002), and her nine-year-old first cousin (their mothers were sisters) shared a room with her.

Lacks began her career as a tobacco farmer at a young age, just like the majority of her family members who also resided in Clover. She worked in the tobacco fields, managed the garden, and fed the animals.

When she had to leave school to help support the family in the sixth grade, she was attending the designated black school two kilometers from the cabin.

Lawrence Lacks was born to Lacks in 1935 when she was just 14 years old. Her daughter, Elsie Lacks (1939–1955), was born in 1939. Day Lacks was the father of both children. Elsie’s family referred to her as “different” or “deaf and dumb” and noted that she had cerebral palsy and epilepsy.

The HeLa cell line, the first immortalized human cell line and one of the most significant cell lines in medical research sprang from Lacks’ cancer cells.

Under specific circumstances, an immortalized cell line can continue to divide indefinitely, and the HeLa cell line has been and continues to be a vital source of medical information.

These cells were unknowingly derived from a tumor biopsy taken in 1951 while Lacks was receiving treatment for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.

George Otto Gey cultivated these cells and produced the HeLa cell line, which is still employed in medical research today.

No permission was needed to culture the cells recovered from Lacks’ treatment, as was customary at the time. She and her family weren’t paid anything for the HeLa cells’ harvest or use.

Researchers began to learn a little bit about the history of HeLa’s immortalized cell lines after 1970, but it wasn’t until 1975 that the Lacks family learned of the line’s existence.

The usage of the cell line for medical research and for commercial purposes has raised questions regarding patient rights and privacy ever since the genetic provenance of the cell line became known to the general public.

Henrietta Lacks family and siblings

Lacks was born to Eliza Pleasant and John Randall Pleasant.

Henrietta Lacks husband

Lacks was married to David Lacks.

Henrietta Lacks children

Lacks had five children.

Henrietta Lacks religion

Lacks was believed to be a Christian.

Henrietta Lacks death and burial

Lacks, who was 31 years old, went to Johns Hopkins for standard treatment on August 8, 1951, and requested to be admitted because of persistent, excruciating abdominal pain.

From the time she was admitted to the hospital until her death on October 4, 1951, she underwent blood transfusions. Her entire body had developed metastases, according to a partial autopsy.

Lacks was laid to rest in an unmarked grave in the Lackstown neighborhood of Clover, Virginia.

Lacks’ precise burial place is unknown, although the family thinks it is next to her mother’s grave, which for many years was the only one in the family to have a tombstone on it.

A gravestone for Lacks was provided in 2010 by Roland Pattillo, a professor at the Morehouse School of Medicine who had collaborated with George Gey and knew the Lacks family. A headstone for Elsie Lacks was also purchased as a result, and it was dedicated on the same day.

Source: www.Ghgossip.com

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