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This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.
It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.
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This is an ad by BetterHelp. What?
What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better, even when it's impossible to make time for them. Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow.
Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?
BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash darkhistory today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash darkhistory.
Hi friends, I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my study.
And to my podcast, Dark History, of course. This is a chance to tell the story like it is and to share the history of stuff we would never think about. Or at least like things I never thought about. That's what this is. So what I need from you is to just sit back, relax, and let's talk about that hot, juicy history goss, girl. Great. Great.
So, I know right now it feels like the world is ending. Everything is on frickin' fire and like nobody knows what the hell is going on anymore. And like we're all connected to one another through our phones, social media, text, blah blah blah. But even though we have like all of this, sometimes it can feel like you're just more alone than ever, right?
Online, it seems like everyone's angry. Ugh. You can feel so disconnected from one another. This is so cheesy, but I was like, "Oh my God, you guys, there's no United and United States." Right? Embarrassing. But what if I told you that we all have something in common? And no, I'm not talking about the bones and muscles, even though, I mean, that's true too. But today, I'm talking about a woman who is inside all of us.
Oh yeah, a woman by the name of Henrietta Lacks. Now, some of you may have heard of Henrietta before, but some of you may be like, "Who's that?" Well, get this. What if I told you Miss Lacks changed the world and saved all of our lives?
Because she did. And how crazy is it that you probably don't know anything about her? At least I didn't. And maybe this is the first time you've even heard her name. So today, my friends, we are deep diving into a time not that long ago, actually less than 100 years ago, that was facing a whole bunch of diseases we don't even have to worry about today because of Henrietta.
So, in order to understand Henrietta's story, we have to talk about how the foundation of trust was broken by a few important doctors back in the early 1900s. So let me open up my book. Oh, it's already open. I opened it, the Henrietta chapter. We're in New York City, 1912. The Titanic is literally sinking. It's like around the same time.
Rose refuses to give up the door and make room for Jack. We all know, Rose, there was room for Jack. But that's not the story we're telling today because during that same time, in a state-of-the-art lab was a well-respected doctor by the name of Alexis Carrel.
And he was trying to do something splashy. He was doing some interesting experiments. He wanted to create something that would really make him like a celebrity within the doctor community. Or just like a celebrity in general. Something that would just give him a lot of attention. Like front page of a magazine type of attention. Superstar.
You know, like we've all heard the stories about the fountain of youth, the sorcerer's stone, the secret sauce of youth, the cure to aging, you know? Well, that's what Dr. Carell was looking for. This was his goal. Now, this was a big deal because he was amping up the people, getting them excited because he wanted to find the secret to living forever, which sounds like a total myth, giving me like bedtime story vibes. But Carell was dead serious about this. Like he was going to do it.
He wanted to live forever. Which, side note, but why do white old men always want to live forever? Like, what is that about? Is that just like mandatory for them? I don't get it. Why do you want to live forever? Like, you're not that great. You know? They never are. Whatever. Anyways, back to Dr. Carell's laboratory. When I said state-of-the-art lab, you're probably thinking like shiny, new, high-tech instruments, a microscope, maybe like some petri dishes.
Shiny chrome work surfaces, fluorescent lights, bright white walls, crisp white lab coats, sanitized everything. But nay nay, Dr. Carrel was a goth king. There was no light in his lab. Now this was because Carrel believed that not only did sunlight kill cell cultures, he also thought that too much sunlight could mess with your brain.
So Dr. Carrel took these ideas and he went off, all the way off. His lab was a small room, there was like a single tiny skylight, but it was so dusty you can barely see out of it. Everything in his lab is like painted black. I mean the walls are black, the seats are black, he's wearing a black robe with like a tall black hood. Honestly, I looked up the pictures you know and it was like low-key.
giving KKK vibes, but in all black. Like that's how doctors looked. Bizarre. I don't know, man. Behind him though, in his lab, you would find like a wall of shelving with jars just filling up all the empty spaces. Now each one of these jars would be filled with human organs. Now I'm talking hearts, lungs, kidneys, liver,
All of it. This lab was considered the cutting edge of medicine at the time and the man who was in the robe, this Carell guy, he had just won a Nobel Prize. Just KKK looking... okay. Carell was famous for developing new surgery techniques for organ transplants, which great, love that, but really everything he did came back to the root of his true belief, which was like eugenics.
We've talked about eugenics here many times before, but a quick refresher: eugenics is basically population control done by rich people to make sure that the traits considered quote unquote "desirable" continued on. And for some reason desirable means white. I don't know why. For Carell, eugenics meant that he wanted to use his search for the fountain of youth to preserve the
the white race. So it would make sense that he's a big Nazi fanboy. And I'm not even making that up because in 1936, this doctor, he publicly praised Adolf Hitler's racial policies and even came out supporting the Nazi controlled regime in France. He advocated for the state's elimination of quote unquote undesirables.
And basically, Carell supported Hitler's idea that the world would be better with only white people in it. So, boo. Honestly, he seems like the type of guy who would have like a big ass painting of Hitler hanging above his bed. And like in the painting, Hitler would be like shirtless, buff, a little bit of chest hair, like with like wrestling a snake. And I bet you the Carell guy was like,
You know, he's that guy. Even though Carell had a bunch of stans and was working hard to be like Hitler's number one fangirl, he still was not feeling satisfied with the success he was experiencing on his own. He wants to be bigger. He wants to really stand out. He wants to just be in the limelight. ♪ Stand out among the crowd ♪ You remember that song?
Thank you. Okay, so how do you do this? Well, Karel sets to work in his dark little evil vampire lab looking for a discovery that will guarantee his name gets into the history books. So remember all those little organs he had in the jars decorating the wall? So he goes over there, grabs one of those jars off the shelf and removes
from the jar a chicken heart. He then starts experimenting with said chicken heart. Now I'm no scientist or doctor. Maybe you've noticed this. Not really sure what the goal was with the chicken heart or what he was doing, but indeed he was doing it. So months go by. Dr. Carell finally comes out of his dark room to announce to the people that he has created an immortal chicken heart. Immortal chicken heart?
Yep, you heard that right, Paul. Immortal chicken heart. I guess Dr. Carell had figured out a way to keep the dead chicken heart cells alive and beating completely on their own. So he's thinking like, today a chicken heart, but tomorrow it could be a human heart, you know? But I just have to say like immortal chicken heart is the freaking coolest name, right? Like I want to start a band.
"Immortal chicken heart." No. Can't you see that? Immortal chicken heart. Me and Paul could go on the road. So Dr. Carell takes this discovery to the press and he promises the people that he has the answer on how to live forever. And not only that, he will share his discovery with all of the people. The white people though. You know, he's like, "Only the white people."
Anyway, the world was going gaga for this guy. I mean, he seems to find how to live forever. He's like telling people that. For decades, people thought Carell was like this brilliant genius. He got exactly what he wished for. He became so famous that he ended up on the cover of Time Magazine. Not just once, he was on the cover twice. To us, like it's like whatever. But Time Magazine back then was like
Everything. Icons only on that cover. Still true to this day, but like, it had a bigger impact back then. Big deal. Big deal. But not long after Dr. Carell died, the truth came out. In 1944, Dr. Carell died and people were getting a little suspicious. You know what I'm saying? First of all, dead? I thought we were living forever.
Dr. Carell. Second of all, other doctors did some digging around. You know, they were trying to recreate the immortal chicken heart situation that made Carell famous in hopes to maybe further the progress, you know? But they were having no luck. And as much more tried to understand his work, it was revealed that Dr. Carell was indeed full of shit. Oh yes, his whole experiment was fake. He was a fraud.
A show pony who wanted his five minutes of fame. Or 50 minutes of fame, sorry about that, yeah. He had been fooling the public and the medical community for years. Everyone believed Carell had kept the same chicken heart alive outside of the chicken's body. Which, yeah, crazy, but they believed it.
In reality, he, Dr. Carell, was just dunking that heart in a little potion of cells to make it beat, air quotes here, before all of his TV appearances. That thing could only live for a few minutes at a time, max. And
And no wonder he wouldn't tell anyone his secret because he pulled a Theranos. Did you guys watch that show, the Theranos one? I mean, I love a strong female scientist who knows what she wants and goes after it. But like that shit was kind of fucked up girl. Like, come on. You're making us look bad. Us women scientists. I'm including myself because I don't know. So the whole immortal chicken heart fiasco
not just a weird ass story/the name of my new band, it actually had some pretty big consequences. Thanks to Dr. Carell, cellular science had gotten a very bad reputation. No one wanted to believe bold claims how cells could, I don't know, save lives. And why should they? This doctor went on TV and all to the media. He lied and he ran with it and he made promises that were empty.
Trust was at an all-time low with people and science. Many believing cellular science was all just Nazi science, which was like, where's the lie, you know? Not that time. The only thing that could change people's minds would be a medical discovery so huge it would change the reputation of cellular research forever.
It had to be something so big that people would essentially forget about the little liar and his immortal chicken heart. And boy, did they find it in a place you wouldn't expect, where life is created deep inside a woman's vagina. But first...
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.
It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.
So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.
Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.
Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?
BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere. And the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash darkhistory today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash darkhistory. Best Fiends.
So now you understand that the people during this time didn't have a trust in cellular science, right? Correct. So now let's fast forward to America in the early 1950s, where there's a woman by the name of Henrietta Lacks, or Henny as her family called her.
Henrietta was a bright and caring woman, and as a mother, a wife, and a daughter, her smile was said to light up every room she walked into. She was known for her fantastic style, her love of dancing. It was said she was a great cook.
And her favorite color was red. But more than anything, her biggest passion in life was being a mother. At this time, Henrietta was married to her husband. His name was Day. And she's also pregnant with her fifth child. Now at this time, Henrietta was about 31 years old. And she said that this pregnancy, it felt different. Like she knew something was just off.
Henrietta expressed feeling pressure or like there was a knot inside of her lower area and she kind of just put it off which I get because pregnancy is pretty wild your body does crazy things during pregnancy and there's like all sorts of why here that there's all sorts of random aches and pains and pressure
So a random pain plus the inconvenience of having to go to the hospital while she still had four other kids and then running a household. Like, I get it. Going to the hospital kind of gets put on the back burner. But also I understand because, like, honestly, I'm not going to the doctors. I'm only going if I'm missing an arm. Like, do not take me. Do not. No, no. You know, like, if anything, I just can put some Vicks on it.
some 7-Up, drink some 7-Up, like I'll be good. Are you aware of our healthcare system? It's not that great. Don't lose an arm. That's not the point. Let's go back to Henrietta Bailey, focus on the story. Anyway, so Henrietta, things took quite the turn after she gave birth.
So she gives birth to her fifth child. Now the pain continued to get worse. And Henrietta said that, I mean, she was, it was excruciating. She was bleeding nonstop. And also she felt like she found a lump inside of her. So it got to the point where she had no other choice. She needed to go to see a doctor.
So Henrietta then goes to Johns Hopkins Hospital, which was the only hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, that accepted Black patients at the time. And remember, this was the 1950s. It wasn't just diners and schools and like water fountains. Healthcare and doctors and hospitals were segregated if they were even available in the first place. But that's a whole nother issue for maybe a different day. A different day.
but keep that in mind as we continue to talk about Henrietta. All right, so the hospital runs a bunch of tests on her, and let me tell you, the results, they aren't good. Unfortunately, her pain turned out to be caused by a large tumor in her uterus, and the diagnosis was cervical cancer.
Now, at this point in time, it was common practice for doctors to run tests on samples of patients' cells and then use anything left over for other research. And they would do all of this without telling the patient, like regardless of who the patient was.
It sounds crazy, but I guess it was like normal then. And this is what the doctors did while Henrietta's in the hospital getting her cancer treatment. Doctors took a sample of her ovarian cells and sent it down to the Johns Hopkins lab.
Down in the lab, a researcher named Dr. Gay gets the delivery of Henrietta's tissue and starts running his normal tests on the cells. With the leftovers, Gay decides to make something called a cell culture with it. Now, it's confusing if you don't know what a cell culture is, but the easiest way to think of it is when you think back to high school biology maybe?
You know when you had like those little petri dishes and you'd put some liquid with like another drip drop of something else and you'd either watch the cells grow or eat each other or just you'd look at the petri dish and be like, I don't understand, but okay. It was better than like listening to a lecture. It was weird. I don't know. Stuff would happen. So you put the cell in the petri dish with something else and then something happens.
And that, my friends, is why I got a D- in biology. Thank you so much. But it basically means to grow cells in a lab. I could have just said that, really, huh? Thank you so much. Welcome to my podcast. Anyway, Dr. Gay puts Henrietta's cells under a microscope. He lets it sit. Lets it marinate a little bit. I'm not really sure how much time passes, but I'm gonna say Dr. Gay probably went to lunch. You know, he probably ate a sandwich.
Jello salad or something? Maybe spam? Anyways, time passes and Dr. Gay comes back to the lab expecting Henrietta's cells to be dead just like all the other cell cultures that he normally works with. But this, my friends, is when he finds out her cells were not only alive, but they were thriving. Oh yeah. Now,
Cells cannot survive outside of the body. So the fact that her cells were indeed alive and thriving, oh, sound the alarm. This was crazy. This was a big deal. This was huge. But it was about to get crazier because Henrietta's cells have not only survived, they seem to be doubling.
Oh, this was mind blowing. This would make Henrietta's cells the first human cells to not just survive, but also multiply outside of the human body ever in history. This would be like the rom-com spit take moment, you know, when they're like...
You get it? So this is so important because since Henrietta's cells were staying alive outside of the human body, this meant they could test cures for diseases on cells instead of testing on actual humans. Cool.
I mean, plus it would be a never-ending supply. They could easily test on thousands of cells and it's safe to say you can't really do that easily with humans. I mean, I guess you can, but I think, you know, let's take a quick look at Tuskegee, birth control, Puerto Rico, you know, the MK Ultra. It seems like it doesn't really go well normally when you test on humans.
Yeah. But this was a humane way to do infinite testing. And more testing meant a better chance to find a cure, or just cures in general, and...
Who doesn't want that? But while Henrietta's cells were changing everything for Dr. K, Henrietta was lying upstairs in her hospital bed having all these tests done on her. They end up operating on Henrietta for her ovarian cancer and they sew radium inside her body to treat the cancer. Radium. Okay? You know, like, I guess that was the best treatment at the time.
But sadly for Henrietta, it was too late. A few weeks go by, and on October 4th, 1951, 31-year-old Henrietta Lacks would sadly die alone at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She left behind her five children and her devastated husband, Day. But Henrietta's cells were still being experimented with by Dr. Gaye.
Henrietta never got the chance to know just how special she and her cells really were. In fact, no one would know for a very long time because Dr. Gay gave her cells a code name. He called them HeLa cells. It was like H-E for Henrietta and then L-A for lax, HeLa cells.
He's like, "No, no, no." So literally though, like nobody else knew Henrietta's identity. No one knew where these cells came from. And when Dr. Gay had taken her sample to the lab, it was simply labeled colored. Like it didn't have a name on it. Weeks go by. Dr. Gay still using Henrietta's cells for testing and the tests are still blowing his mind. So he starts to get a little cocky.
Dr. Gay goes to the press and also makes a TV appearance, well he makes a couple TV appearances, and just like that doctor earlier, the Carell, he's like, "Hey guys, look what I did over here." He tells thousands of people watching or reading his article that he, and he alone, had discovered the cells that could potentially lead us to the cure for many diseases in society.
And there was one disease in particular that had been making its way through America over the last few decades and absolutely destroying the lives of the most innocent people. But it wasn't until a well-respected leader caught this disease that it was officially labeled public enemy number one. But first...
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.
It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.
So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.
Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.
Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?
BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash darkhistory today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash darkhistory. Welcome back.
So Henrietta has these special selves. Gay is like, hey, everybody, look at what I did. And he's looking forward to his moment on Time magazine. And then meanwhile, America has been dealing with an invisible enemy for decades, which again was destroying families all across the country. It's time for us to meet Polio. Oh yes, many of us have heard the name Polio, right? Yeah, you've heard it. But what exactly is Polio? I don't know.
Oh, let me tell you, actually, I looked it up. You're welcome. Polio is a virus that attacks your spinal cord, weakens your muscles over time, and could potentially leave you paralyzed for life. Soon, polio exploded into a full-blown epidemic in the early 1900s, which maybe sounds familiar, because, like, same shit, different era. With COVID.
but it's like polio. Do you know what I'm saying? You get it. The people polio was affecting and killing the most were children. So obviously this is freaking people out because their kids were getting sick and in some cases even dying. Polio could spread easily simply by contact with a sick person, contaminated food or drinking water contaminated with feces. And I know that sounds gross 'cause like who's drinking poop water?
but this was before there was a solid water filtration system in place so maybe the water was a little like shitty you know? Polio actually was curable but only if you had money for treatments which just like now a lot of people didn't have the money for the treatments. But polio really becomes a big deal when it's announced that someone very importante has this virus.
the freaking president of the United States, Mr. Franklin D. Roosevelt. Yeah, Mr. FDR himself had been diagnosed with polio in 1921, but his little sneaky ass kept it a secret from the public for years. Now, his people and the people around him, they didn't want to make a big deal out of it at first because if you're the president, it would make you look bad that you're weak and sick.
Like he's supposed to be immune to everything. I think that's one of the, in the job description. So they're like, don't say anything. But as the years went on, I think it got worse. And it got to the point where he couldn't hide it anymore. So he publicly came out and was like, look, I have polio. Peace out.
And after that, it was like all hands on deck. Scientists are going hardcore searching for a cure. Politicians are holding, you know, like big fancy fundraisers for all those people with money to raise funds for research and treatments for a cure. So of course, when you go to these fundraisers, it's mainly like the wealthy people who have money and they're like, "We gotta save the children, the children."
The chi- What about the children?
as long as they're white. What about them? You know, it was mainly like to benefit the white kids who were getting polio and stuff like a hot mess. FDR president was happy to support the multiple segregated fundraisers, balls and bake sales that happened in support of polio. And of course his polio foundation was happy to take donations from black and white Americans alike.
But once all the money was put together, it went to a bougie polio recovery clinic in Georgia called the Warm Springs Foundation, which only treated white patients. And guess who was a VIP member there? The president himself, Mr. FDR. Honestly, not a great look, but it happened. So people have been looking for a cure for polio for decades. Even after FDR died, polio was still a huge epidemic and the search ramped up.
Dr. Gay has discovered what he thinks could be the cure in Henrietta's cells. And once word gets out about what's going on with Dr. Gay...
Everybody wants to get their hands on these HeLa cells. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.
It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner, and more. So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year so you're protected no matter what.
This is an ad by BetterHelp.com.
What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better, even when it's impossible to make time for them. Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow.
Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?
BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash darkhistory today to get 10% off your first month.
That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash dark history. ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. America in the 1950s. Oh, I guess they were good at mass producing. Demand is high. Everybody wants to use these cells to find a cure because they like keep reproducing. Like these cells, they could do so much with them. So...
Everybody wants them so they could find a cure, right? Great. And in order to make like this happen to mass produce the cells, a factory is needed in order to mass produce and ship and like just run like a full on business operation. So they're like looking for normal locations, like labs and stuff. They come across an old Fritos factory. Same shit. Yeah. Yeah.
The chips, the delicious snack? No, I don't think. Fritos are my least favorite, honestly. Like if I'm desperate, I'll eat a Frito, but that's, we're not talking about Fritos. I'm just thinking about Fritos right now because that's where they set up shop for medical lab. Fritos factory. Come on, that's funny.
I mean to be fair, they weren't pumping out cells and chips at the same time, but it's just an odd choice that I like to laugh at and giggle. Anyway, they start pumping out Henrietta's cells, making more. We're not talking hundreds of cells here. Oh nay nay, or even thousands. At one point, they're making as many as six trillion, yeah, trillion, trillion cells a week.
Now this, my friends, is when people realize that there is a lot of money to be made here. What do the whites love the most? Money. And these things are being sold and shipped from medical research all over the world. Oh, shipping to different countries, continents, other states. Great, you know? Is it? I don't know, Paul.
Great. A batch of the HeLa cells make their way to the University of Pittsburgh in 1954 where a scientist is working on a polio vaccine. He's trying to solve the mystery and create the vaccine but every time he tests normal cells against polio in his petri dish the polio cells always win. It's not happening in luck but once this doctor placed Henrietta's cells into the petri dish
Everything changed. It's kind of like a little cocktail, you know, in a little shaker. He puts two parts polio, two parts HeLa cells, a dash of garnish or whatever the fuck.
I kind of wanted margarita. I think I'm hungry. Fritos, margarita. Anyway, this turns into the most epic battle between the vaccine and virus. But this time the vaccine has a secret weapon. He added the HeLa cells, AKA Henrietta Lacks cells, to the Petri dish situation. So he makes the vaccine for Poland. It's successful. I wonder if he celebrated.
I mean, because that's huge. He just got the vaccine for polio. It's groundbreaking. Once word gets out, the vaccine becomes available to the public, like making it quick. Vaccines for everyone. And by the 70s, polio is pretty much virtually over. America went from tens of thousands of people, mostly children, getting this disease. It went down to just 10 cases over 10 years. 10. 10.
tens of thousands to now just 10. Like that's wild. I think you did it sir. I think you did it. Good for you, you know, with Henrietta's cells. Science seems to be advancing but not only that many see it again money making machine. Naturally Dr. Gay, you know, he's going on, he's riding this big wave with his discovery and I know what you're thinking, doesn't he give any credit to Henrietta?
Like the woman who sells these are the only reason any of this is happening? Of course not. This is dark history. At some point, there is a reporter who goes up to Dr. Gay and they're like, Dr. Gay, Dr. Gay, tell us. Tell us, Dr. Gay. What does Hila stand for? But when Dr. Gay has the opportunity to like, you know, give Henrietta credit, he typical freaking reporter.
Typical, right? He says Hila stands for Helen Lane. Yeah, he's like standing by a window and he's like, the lady's like, what does it stand for? And he's like, uh, uh, looks out the window. Helen, he's like Elaine, outside. Lane, Helen Lane.
That's what I imagine. He just came up with Helen Lane really quick. The point is, he gives credit to a totally fake person. But everyone accepts this and they're like, "Oh my God, Helen Lane? Icon, legend, whoa, like she saved us from polio. They're putting her on t-shirts and shit like, 'Helen Lane for president.'" I don't think that really happened, but like people were excited about Helen Lane.
So the whole country is celebrating and everyone is so happy that there's a vaccine available to prevent this disease from continuing on. The polio nightmare is finally over. Yay. Meanwhile, the Lacks family, oh, they have no idea that their mother/wife is the reason people were able to celebrate. No one had maybe told the family anything, which kind of weird, but okay, choices were made.
What makes the situation even more sad was that while doctors and scientists were making bank off of the advancements of the HeLa cell, Henrietta's family was struggling. They didn't have access to basic health care. It was said that one of her sons was homeless, living on the street, just going through it.
And to make matters worse, scientists aren't done trying to take from the Lacks family. In 1976, out of the blue, Day, Henrietta's husband, picks up the phone and the emotional rollercoaster begins.
Yeah. Oh yeah. So when these scientists called the Lacks family, they were using just a ton of medical terms and phrases, just stuff that you and I, non-scientists, would not understand. They're like, "Beep bop boop cell culture, microchondriac, biology terms." That's all I can think of. "Neurons."
Sure. So they call saying all this stuff, asking for cell samples from the Lacks family. But Mr. Lacks, he wasn't a scientist. He didn't understand cell science. So he really could not make sense of what the person on the other line of the phone was saying.
What Day got out of the call was, "We've got your wife. She's alive in a lab. We've been doing research on her for the last 25 years." Like that's how Day translated it. Like, I'm sorry, what? Could you imagine the rollercoaster of emotions you'd be going through if that's what you thought the scientists were doing?
and you thought your wife or your husband, your partner is still alive, this poor man is probably just like, doesn't know what to do.
But what researchers really wanted were more cell samples from the family. Okay, because they knew that Henrietta's cells were something special. So, like, what else does this family have to offer us? Maybe they have even more super cells in them. They're thinking maybe they got, like, supersonic whatever. And the only way to find out is by having a family member come in and get tested. Yeah.
But nothing ended up coming from that call. I mean, Day didn't know what they were talking about and I can't speak on his behalf, but I could imagine he's confused, scared, misunderstanding. I mean...
They didn't really answer anything for him. Poor guy. Years later, the researchers try calling the family once again. This time they got Henrietta's youngest daughter. Her name is Deborah. Now Deborah Lacks was in her late 20s by now and she had two kids of her own. But she had this deep fear of getting ovarian cancer and dying young just like her mother.
So when she answers the call, automatically, Deborah thinks they want to test her for ovarian cancer. And she's scared, but she decides to put the trust or her trust in the doctors. So she goes in and she gives her samples thinking like, hey, at least like I'm going to find out if I have ovarian cancer or not.
and I can really go from there, you know? Either way, she felt like it was just a smart move to make. Well, Debra goes in for the testing, but then she waits for days, months, years. A call never comes with test results. I know. I mean, I don't know about you guys, but...
I'm sure we can all relate on this. If you're waiting to get a call about whether or not you have cancer, I'm sure you'd be freaking out just waiting. And mind you, having months go by, years, and no answer, I'd be like, that's it, I'm dying. I'm dying tomorrow. You know? Who wouldn't be freaking out?
And she did. It was said that Debra had like several emotional breakdowns over the next few years. So it makes sense that she swore off ever working with scientists and researchers ever again. But once again, bitch, ring, ring. That phone rings. Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring. Debra answers. Yet again, another doctor on the end of the line. Okay.
She's like, "Ugh, what now?" This man, he went by the name of Dr. Roland Patio. He tells Deborah that he actually worked directly under the doctor who took their mother's cells. At first, Deborah wants to hang up the phone because Wynne has a doctor/scientist
ever actually help them with something, you know? But as the conversation went on, something about this call just felt different. For the first time, this doctor wasn't calling to ask for something, you know? Instead, he wanted to give them something. He had a gift for them. He told the family that he wanted to give them a headstone for their mother's unmarked grave, which is like
So nice, but also so sad that she was in an unmarked grave and she literally saved the world. Ugh, oy vey. Patio explains that there's no one in the world like their mother. Their mother's cells were so powerful that they made copies of them and sent them to labs all around the world and even outer space. That's right, their mother went to space. Damn, Henrietta, she did that.
She did that shit. Oh, and the polio vaccine, it wouldn't exist without your mom. That's what he's telling them, you know? Because of Miss Henrietta Lacks, millions of lives were saved and medicine was changed forever.
And listen to this. The cells were so powerful. Patio explained that Gila cells could live without a body. So even though Henrietta had died 30 years ago, some part of her lived on. In fact, her cells were considered immortal.
For Debra, who had grown up without knowing anything about her mother, the knowledge that Henrietta still existed in a way and that she had been like responsible for saving thousands, maybe millions of lives was overwhelming. I'm sure. You think? That would be really hard to believe, huh? You'd be like, what? What?
So this was a turning point for the Lacks family and Dr. Patillo continued to maintain a close relationship with them. Dr. Patillo took the time to answer the family's questions about what had happened to their mother, explained like all the science behind her cells and also the experiments they did. Just really informed them without making it complicated.
Up until then, none of the other scientists had taken time to actually sit down and explain this. It was just Dr. Patillo. So this was huge for the family to just finally have answers. Incredible. But that wasn't all. Dr. Patillo did a lot of things in his career to honor Henrietta, like hosting yearly conferences about what her HeLa cells were doing in medicine and inviting the family to speak.
He also told the family not to worry about the flood of like calls from reporters wanting to know more about the family, about Henrietta. He handled that for them so the family could just get back to living peaceful lives. So it's nice to know that, you know, there are doctors like him out there, you know, especially after everything the family went through. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking.
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So by the 1970s Henrietta is finally being recognized as the actual person behind the Gila cell but it's not really front page news and this might have been the end of what the public knew about Henrietta until years later. In 1988 a student named Rebecca Skloot takes a biology class. She's in college. She goes to biology class. She's sitting there
During a lecture, her college professor is like, you know, saying all these names that are important to biology. He's like writing them down on the board. Blah, blah, blah, words. Then he writes down the name Henrietta Lacks. And the professor tells everyone in the class, because of this person, polio is no longer a thing. And then he like just erases the name and moves on. And Rebecca is like, wait, what? What?
This sparks her noggin, right? So after class, she goes up to her professor and she's like, hey, can you tell me more about this Henrietta? Like, what is she lacking? I don't get it. And he's like, I wish I could, but no one really knows anything about her. Rebecca's like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, girl. You just told us, you just told a class that her cells were one of the most important things to happen to the world. You know, you just said that, but you don't know anything else about her.
It wasn't adding up, you know? And Rebecca remained curious. But this was a time when Google was not a thing yet. I know, how did we survive?
It's so sad. But she had to do like some in real life sleuthing, which led her like right down the Henrietta rabbit hole. So she's making all these different phone calls. She's she's taking notes. And this leads her to the door of our friend, Dr. Roland Patio. So she asked if if he can introduce her to the Lacks family because she just really wants to know the whole story.
And at first, he's like, no, you can't talk to them. Like, they've been through enough. They've been taken advantage of. Absolutely not. He's very protective of the family. But Rebecca is persistent. And finally, Dr. Patillo is convinced that she does have good intentions and, you know, he feels good about her. So he decides to put her in touch with Henrietta's daughter, Debra Lacks. So Debra and Rebecca decide to meet up.
And Rebecca is excited to talk to Debra about the amazing things Henrietta has done for medicine and just hear like her firsthand experience. And Debra's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Dr. Petillo already told me. All Debra really cared about at this point was like getting to know her mother. I mean, Debra was just a newborn baby when Henrietta died. And it was hard for her family to talk about her after Henrietta's sudden death.
And Debra, she just wanted to know basic things. Like what was her mother's favorite color? What did her mother smell like? You know, like all the things that some people just take for granted. I know I do. Like just, she wanted to know, like, did she have nail polish? You know, like she just wanted to know her mom, Debra.
And I mean, Rebecca, she doesn't have the answers Deborah's looking for. But with Dr. Patillo's help and the public eye now on the family, she can start putting the pieces together as best as she can.
In 2010, she even visited a laboratory where a large supply of HeLa cells were being stored. And what she saw was a floor-to-ceiling freezer with vials of red liquid, each of them containing a tiny piece of Henrietta. Oh, so like Deborah got to see this and she just like, I guess she just like was, she gasped and she's like, I can't believe this is all my mother. God, like what a, what a.
That'd be wild. I couldn't even imagine. Now this encounter was very meaningful for Debra, who was a very spiritual person, feeling her mother's presence and knowing Henrietta was still alive in a way. She felt like she's even protecting her. She told Rebecca that she believed her mother was responsible for bringing them together. Debra felt her mother's presence everywhere and believed her spirit continued to guide her through life.
This whole story inspires Rebecca to write a book about Henrietta Lacks to spread awareness of her impact on the world. And she teams up with Deborah and Dr. Patio to get the whole story. And when the book was completed, it would end up on the New York Times bestseller list. And in 2017, it would be made into a movie starring Oprah.
I found it quite beautiful how Henrietta was able to give life to so many people even after she died so young. On top of that, Henrietta is the reason scientists found the link between HPV and cervical cancer, which has led to saving millions of women from the same cancer that she had died from. So if you at home have gotten the polio shot, maybe you've done IVF,
Maybe even got checked out for HPV. Or, I know, even taking your dog in for a parvo shot. Well, guess what? Miss Henrietta Lacks has indeed been a part of your life. Henrietta's cells have changed the world. In fact, since they were first discovered, scientists have replicated the Gila cells so many times that if you took every cell ever grown and laid them end to end, it would wrap around the Earth three times. Um...
Hello, hi. That's shocking because cells are very small. You can't even see them with your naked eye. Can you see it right now? No, right? Exactly. So it's impressive that you could go around the earth three times.
Are you impressed? You should be. Doesn't this sound like a superhero movie though? A Nazi with a creepy lab trying to live forever, an old white dude trying to take credit for something someone else did, and a crazy disease ripping America apart. Then along comes Henrietta's immortal cells to save the day. We should be forever grateful to Henrietta. We really should, 'cause I think all of us had to get the polio shot in order to start school, correct?
Thank you, Miss Henrietta. And honestly, she should be the first name mentioned in biology class. I mean, you would think, right? But instead, in my high school class, we had to memorize the periodic table of elements or whatever. I'm sure using that a lot, you guys. I use it every day. Oxygen. H2O. Oh wait, that's water. I use it every day. So even though taking Henrietta's cells for research was a normal thing to do back then, they didn't have to do her dirty and leave her name out of science books.
Her face should be everywhere. She should be like the face of medicine almost, you would think, right? She saved all of us, goddammit. Can we do something for her?
It's easy to think of this story as super messed up and sad, because honestly it is. But instead of letting it get you down, think of what we can do to really give Henrietta the credit she deserves, right? I think something as simple as having a conversation can go a very long way, like telling your friend about a new story you learned today. "Hey, have you heard of Henrietta Lacks? You may not have, but you know, she's definitely inside you."
That would get their attention. Yeah. So my friends, stay curious even when people don't have answers. Have conversations. And don't forget to get your annual pap smear or your polio vaccine and stuff. And look, I'm not gonna act like I know everything about this and there's so much I had to leave out of today's story. A good place to learn more is by checking out henrietalaxfoundation.org which I will leave in the description or information box.
below. Well, everyone, a big thank you for learning with me today. Remember, don't be afraid to ask questions or be curious because that's all the fun in it, baby.
Now, I'd love to hear your reactions to today's story. So make sure to use the hashtag dark history over on social media so I can spy and like see what you're talking about. Also, join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. And while you're there, don't forget to check out my murder mystery and makeup. I hope you have a great day today. You make good choices and I'll be talking to you next week. Goodbye.
Dark History is an Audioboomer original. This podcast is executive produced by Bailey Sarian, Kimberly Jacobs, Dunya McNeely from 3Arts, Kevin Grush, and Claire Turner. A big thank you to our writers, Allison Filobos, Katie Burris, Joey Scavuzzo, and me, Bailey Sarian. Hi. Hi. Shot and edited by Tafadzwa Nemarundwe. Research provided by Regina Dolza.
And a special thank you to our expert, Johns Hopkins Medical Institute. Like, that was huge. That was huge. I was, like, really flattered that they were willing to help us out with this episode. Like, fuck yeah. Thanks, guys. Anyways, I'm Bailey Sarian. I'm your host. And I'm wondering why you're still here, actually. Don't you got something to do? Ah, no hay nada más satisfactorio.
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