"New tumors seemed to appear daily-on her lymph nodes, hip bones, labia-and she spend most of her days with a fever of 105. Her doctors stopped the radiation treatment and seemed as defeated by the cancer as she was. 'Henrietta is a miserable specimen,' they wrote. 'She groans.' 'She is constantly nauseated and claims she vomits everything she eats.' 'Patient acutely upset...very anxious.' 'As far as I can see we are doing all that can be done.'"
I find this section of the reading to be particularly interesting as they have not only taken cells from her body without her knowledge but refer to her as a "specimen" rather than a human being, perhaps because of the success of her cells' growth but also maybe because of her color & gender. Up to this point in the book, her cells have not only been harvested but also advertised & sold while Henrietta is lying on her death bed with no idea that any of this is happening, her family is even less informed & George Gey is now famous. On top of all this, only a few months before, she says goodbye to her daughter, Elsie, for the last time & nobody would even visit her again. The pain Henrietta went through was just incredible, it was no wonder she knew she was ready to die.
Cancer patients today still go through so much pain but I still find it amazing to think of how far we've come from then, most because of Henrietta's cells. I can only imagine the same kind of thing still happens today, the pain patients have to endure. And the system that doesn't allow patients certain treatments until they can pay off what they've already had done? It's outrageous that was even a thing in the 60's. but now? Inexcusable.
The only thing I'm left wondering is how Henrietta did it. How did she deal with the pain for so long? What did she think in bed all those months? Why did she keep going?
I find this section of the reading to be particularly interesting as they have not only taken cells from her body without her knowledge but refer to her as a "specimen" rather than a human being, perhaps because of the success of her cells' growth but also maybe because of her color & gender. Up to this point in the book, her cells have not only been harvested but also advertised & sold while Henrietta is lying on her death bed with no idea that any of this is happening, her family is even less informed & George Gey is now famous. On top of all this, only a few months before, she says goodbye to her daughter, Elsie, for the last time & nobody would even visit her again. The pain Henrietta went through was just incredible, it was no wonder she knew she was ready to die.
Cancer patients today still go through so much pain but I still find it amazing to think of how far we've come from then, most because of Henrietta's cells. I can only imagine the same kind of thing still happens today, the pain patients have to endure. And the system that doesn't allow patients certain treatments until they can pay off what they've already had done? It's outrageous that was even a thing in the 60's. but now? Inexcusable.
The only thing I'm left wondering is how Henrietta did it. How did she deal with the pain for so long? What did she think in bed all those months? Why did she keep going?