HeLa Misinformation and Deborah's Personal Health Struggles

Key Insight

Deborah grappled with severe personal health challenges, enduring an average of 14 pills daily, costing approximately $150 each month after insurance, due to a multitude of diagnoses. These included paranoia, schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, degenerating kneecaps, bursitis, bulged discs, diabetes, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Her health issues, which began around 1997 after a 'Gold Digger Situation,' led her to apply for Social Security disability, secured only after several court appearances despite initial dismissal by officials as being 'all in my head.' Her conditions often triggered episodes of fright, causing her to hide, which influenced her initial reluctance to engage with the narrator.

Her medical conditions were compounded by the misuse of Ambien, a narcotic sleep aid, which led to a 'drugged haze' where she would Google 'Henrietta' and 'HeLa' late at night. Her grandson Davon termed it 'dummy medicine' due to her zombie-like behavior, including chopping cereal with a butcher knife while trying to cook. Deborah frequently fell asleep at her computer, surrounded by printouts that included scientific articles, patent applications, and numerous irrelevant newspaper articles or blog posts that merely contained the words 'Henrietta,' 'Lacks,' or 'Hela,' further blurring the lines of her understanding.

The proliferation of the name 'Hela' in various contexts—such as Sri Lanka, a German tractor company, a Shih-tzu dog, a Polish resort, a Swiss advertising firm, a Danish boat, and a Marvel comic character—created significant confusion for Deborah. She mistakenly believed the Marvel character 'Hela,' a seven-foot-tall, half-black, half-white goddess with 'immeasurable' intelligence and 'superhuman' strength, was directly describing her mother due to perceived trait matches. This extended to her misinterpretation of online search results for 'HeLa,' 'clone,' and 'human farming,' which led her to believe that thousands of her mother had been cloned, necessitating direct reassurance that only her mother's cells, not her, were copied. Despite these profound struggles, Deborah affirmed, 'I can't get mad at science, because it help people live, and I'd be a mess without it. I'm a walking drugstore!' while still expressing a desire for health insurance to cover her medication costs.