COVID-19 vaccinations overwhelming for Kalamazoo family related to the immortal Henrietta Lacks – MLive.com

KALAMAZOO, MI When Kalamazoo resident Bessie Lacks and her grandson Jermaine Jackson received their COVID-19 vaccines earlier this spring, both were overwhelmed with emotion.

Not just because they were being vaccinated or because they were receiving the Pfizer vaccine which was developed in Kalamazoo County but because of an even closer connection. The Pfizer vaccine never would have been developed as it is without the use of cells taken from Lacks sister-in-law in 1951, before Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.

Her family was left in the dark for 25 years that Henriettas cells, the first discovered immortal cell line, were being used daily in scientific research and they never saw a cent until more than 60 years later.

Even so, there was a sense of pride that washed over Bessie Lacks when she received her shots.

Personally, I just thank God her cells are still being used and that they are doing so much. Its really wonderful, Lacks said. I was telling everybody, the vaccine was, in part, because of my sister-in-law I just hope everyone can respect what it is and know that part of that family is still around.

Henrietta Lacks died in 1951 of cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Her cells, taken without her or her family's knowledge prior to have her death, have lived on for 70 years and counting, helping lead from one scientific discovery to the next. (Photo provided by the Lacks Family)

Lacks, who was married to the brother of Henrietta Lacks husband, said she has great appreciation for all of the work the researchers have done over the years, using the HeLa cells to first develop the polio vaccine, develop AIDS and chemotherapy treatments and develop drugs from everything from Parkinsons disease to sexually transmitted diseases, and much more.

Like other members of the Lacks family, there is a degree of resentment in how things were handled as Henriettas cells were taken without permission and the family was left in the dark until the mid-1970s, when doctors asked for blood samples to aid in ongoing research.

It would be the turn of the century before Henrietta Lacks family began to understand the full scope of the importance of Henriettas cells, and another 10 years before they saw any form of compensation. That is when author Rebecca Skloot set up the Henrietta Lacks Foundation to help individuals who made important contributions to scientific research without personally benefitting from those contributions.

Skloot, who worked closely with Bessie Lacks niece Deborah Lacks, while authoring the best-selling The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, helped put a face and the story behind the Black woman who, for nearly 60 years, almost no one knew a thing about. That book later became a movie, with a character based on Skloot and Oprah Winfrey playing Deborah Lacks.

But it was the book, upon its release, that turned a world of what felt like nothing more than science fiction into reality for Jackson, who is an assistant librarian with Kalamazoo Public Libraries as well as a Kalamazoo Public Schools board member.

Reality not science-fiction

I was told all my life, and of course it sounded like a fictional story, but our grandmother was always telling us about her sister-in-law and what her cells contributed to the world, said Jackson, 45. Of course, because it wasnt mainstream media it wasnt gospel, we thought it was a fictional story.

But when the book came out and his grandmother called him at work and asked him to put the book on reserve, he picked it up and began reading.

I was completely flabbergasted, Jackson said. To see that this woman who died in 1951 of cervical cancer and had her cells taken from her without her consent, and her cell line created a medical breakthrough that hadnt been seen in the history of medical science.

Jackson, inspired by the reality of his own family history, conversed with his cousins to learn more. He ultimately designed a four-themed exhibit for the Barnabee Art Gallery in the Kalamazoo Public Libraries Alma Powell Branch, located in Kalamazoos Douglas neighborhood.

The exhibit highlights the family history of Henrietta Lacks, the scientific wonders her cells are tied to and the controversy that surrounds the taking of her cells. It also features artwork from more than a half-dozen artists depicting the legacy of Henrietta Lacks.

A new arrival to the exhibit of Henrietta Lacks by Artist Jamari Taylor of Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Photo of artwork provided by Jermaine Jackson)

The exhibits purpose is to both educate and to humanize the great aunt he never met, Jackson said.

Jackson, who initially intended the exhibit to be a one-time thing in 2017, later developed it into a virtual presentation that has been shown to middle and high school students over the past year. As the pandemic winds to a close, he hopes to hit the road with it, taking it to college campuses, schools, churches, community organizations and museums across the country.

While it is a joy, Jackson said, knowing his great aunt lives on through medical science and to know that anyone who is a cancer survivor or received AIDS treatment or the Coronavirus vaccine has been touched by her the injustices felt by the family and many Black people, he said, are very real.

Trust in the Black community

Even donating organs is a scary thing, still, for a lot of Black people, he said. Many of us think there is a greater possibility if we sign on as organ donors, that they may just let us die in order to use that organ to save another life. Theres still trust issues. There have been for years.

Dr. (Martin Luther) King said, Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane. So, when we see rallying and picketing and protests over policing issues in this country, thats stuff everybody is conscious of with the videos and the media, but medical injustices are unseen.

For Bessie Lacks, the biggest injustice was that she felt there should have been some compensation for the family members who didnt even know Henrietta Lacks cells were being sold and distributed to laboratories across the world.

They were just a normal family with something tragic that happened, and their dad he had to raise the kids on his own, she said. They grew up poor. He did the best he could, but he had to work and hed pay somebody else to watch the kids. They couldnt afford their own medical care.

Yet their mothers cells were providing care for people across the world.

There wasnt anything anyone could do because thats just the way it was, Bessie Lacks said. Ive got the sense to know that was the kind of setup that we had in America at that time. We didnt have the laws and the amendments that we have now to make things different.

If something like that happened now you could do something about it, but Im sure there isnt even a doctor or nurse still alive that had nothing to do with that.

Now that the years have passed and understanding has grown, Lacks said, some family members have begun to feel different and Henriettas grandchildren and great-grandchildren have a sense of pride knowing what their grandmothers cells have contributed.

For Bessie Lacks, her own cancer treatments and her COVID vaccine have some extra significance.

I know it did it a lot, she said. But it wasnt me; it was my sister-in-law. We were just married to two brothers.

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COVID-19 vaccinations overwhelming for Kalamazoo family related to the immortal Henrietta Lacks - MLive.com