Henrietta Lacks "HeLa's Going VIRAL" by Kristine Grossman

Lawrence Lacks:
The oldest of Henrietta’s children, Lawrence knows that most about his mother before she started to become ill. He describes his mother as someone who was strict on the family, but always loving and inviting. He remembers Elsie the most out of all of his siblings and how the three of them all lived together during their normal routine of life. As Henrietta started getting ill and their father left the picture, Lawrence was forced to become the patriarchy of the household. After his mother died him and his wife housed all of the siblings for some time. His wife was a nurse and tried to help gain information about Henrietta Lacks, but they were always turned down due to the doctors assuming they wouldn’t understand the information.

Elsie Lacks:

Henrietta’s oldest daughter was Elsie and she was her second child. Elsie while well cared for by her mother had some development delays that prevented her from hearing or speaking. These disabilities are believed to be inherited from Henrietta’s disease of congenital syphilis and Elsie also had epilepsy. She was sent to Crownsville State Hospital where she stayed until she died, not getting to see any of her other siblings, she only knew of her older brother Lawrence. No one knew why Elsie had died at the hospital, but it was found out by her sister Deborah that the hospital had a history of abusing patients and in a photo of Elsie there were indication of her being one of those victims. This is the assumed reason for her early death.

David Lacks Jr:

David Lacks Jr. was the middle child of Henrietta’s 3 sons, as result of Herietta marrying her first cousin. David wanted to share his mother's legacy with the world and help preserve all she’s done. David was very open with many people about his mother’s personal life and continuously shared it. This helped the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” to be created and he convinced his other siblings to share their mothers' stories. He teaches his children about their grandmother and encourages them to help preserve and spread her legacy. He often goes to events to speak about his mother and all of her contributions to his life as well as her contributions to the health science field with her HeLa cells.

Deborah Lacks:
Henrietta’s daughter Deborah helped contribute most to the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by giving various different examples of her mother’s personal and scientific life. Deborah was very defensive about sharing her mother’s story, because she believed everyone was going to use the information negatively. Deborah soon realized that her mother’s story did need to be heard and she decided to finally open up. Deborah shared information about how her mother was known for wearing red lipstick and how she was always generous to the family. Deborah didn’t understand the medical aspect, but she was always willing to try and learn more about her mother. Deborah’s contribution to the book allowed for her mother to get the recognition she deserved as well as the rest of the Lacks family.

Joe Lacks:

Henrietta’s youngest child was Joe now known as Zakariyya Bari Abdul Rahman also suffered with mental disability and faced many issues after his mother died. Since he is the youngest, he knew her for the least amount of time which often caused him to repress his feelings about her death. He was imprisoned for murder and converted to Islam while being locked up. Due to his mother’s death at such a young age, many believe this is the cause for Joe losing his mental stability. He didn’t care to learn much about his mother, until Deborah visited him and expressed to him how much of a good person she was. He felt that his mother was exploited for her cells and that only the rich were able to profit off of her.

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