#everything reminds me of her… (unethical science woman)

[rainedroptalks]

The. The princess of Bryony you say

[scripttorture]

I have a character who was never held as a child, never given any physical affection and was kept in a lab and experimented on (needles, etc.) for the first six years of his life. He was trained as a weapon of sorts as well. years later he still trusts almost no-one, what would I have to do to make a romantic relationship realistic? (Sorry if this makes no sense) тнαик уσυ!!（*＾3＾）

OK so I’ve consulted with members of the Script Family who know a lot more about childhood developmentthan I do and there’s a good chance that your character wouldn’t live intoadulthood.

 Insufficient touch at an early age is linked to a host of conditions andimpairments in human children. The mechanism is more thoroughly studied in rats(for rather obvious ethical reasons) but the essential conclusion is this:gentle, caring touch is essential for childhood development.

 There’sa short academic review paper on the subject here which covers humans and rats(and worms but that’s not relevant to your story). There’s a moreaccessible piece in Scientific American here. Basedon these papers I think whatever you decide you need to remove the ‘lack oftouch’ as an element in your story.

 You want this to be realistic so I think the most helpful thing I can dois start suggesting alternatives rather than try to go into depth aboutchildhood development (an area where my knowledge is patchy at best).

 I have issues with the motif of children being raised as ‘weapons’. I’vespent too much time reading about (and seen too many) child soldiers to feeleasy treating it as pure fantasy (the way I gather most audiences from richstable countries do).  

 I’m saying that as statement of bias- from what you’ve described I don’tthink it’s an element you ‘have’ to change but I think you need to think aboutwhich of these background elements you’ve included is most important to yourstory.

 Basically what I think you need to decide is which of these things is most important to the story:

 1)     The character was raised as aweapon and is an effective fighter

2)     The character was used as asubject in unethical experiments

3)     The character was tortured

 The reason you can’t realistically include all of those elementstogether is because they all reduce the efficiency of each other.

 A character who is tortured willbe a less effective fighter and torture would add another unaccounted forvariable into a scientific study which would basically make any data gathereduseless.

 A character who is used as an experimental subject couldn’t be effectively trained as a fighter without alsodisrupting the experiments.

 The best way to achieve point 1) is to raise the character in a loving, caring environment (includinghaving positive reinforcement, caring parental figures and touch). Thecharacter’s kind, caring, lovingparental figures would then teach the child about war, weapons and fighting inmuch the same way a normal parent would introduce teaching a child to read.They would lavish praise on him and teach him that he is part of somethingbigger, a glorious cause.

 And if they did it ‘right’ he would grow up mentally healthy, welltrained and perfectly willing to kill for them.

 I’vewritten about scenarios like this before and you might find this ask helpful.

 The best way to achieve point 2) is to get rid of any notion thatthe character is being trained for anything and remember that in this scenario any torture is secondary.

 Serious scientists do not setout to cause animal experimental models more pain. If your character is beingtreated like an experimental animal then that means any pain he experienceswill be secondary to what thescientists are interested in.

 Let me give you an example: the case of Elsie Lacks.

 Elsie was committed to a mental ward as a child in America during the50s. Elsie was mentally handicapped (the diagnosis of the time was ‘idiocy’)she was epileptic and deaf. She was also black.

 Elsie was used in at least two, and possibly more, medical experiments.There’s no evidence the hospital sought consent and given her age andcapacities Elsie may not have been capable of giving it. One involved insertingmetal probes into patient’s brains. The other drained the fluid from apatient’s skull so the brain could be x-rayed, a procedure that causes dizziness,vomiting, seizures and headaches for months while the skull refills with fluidand can also cause permanent brain damage and paralysis. Elsie died aftermaking herself vomit for six months. By the end she was bringing up clottedblood. She was 15.

 The pain Elsie suffered was notthe point.

 The people who did this to her did notgo out of their way to cause her greater suffering. They treated her like anobject, another part of the test. They acted in a manner that was systematic, reproducible,recorded and wrong.

 Torture is not reproducible. It is rarely recorded. It is notsystematic. And it always treats pain, cruelty and neglect as the point rather than as a secondaryfactor.

 Which brings me to scenario 3).

 Torture and abuse doesn’t mesh well with science. It’s usually conductedimpulsively with little regard for any controlling factors.

 Torturers usually use multiple techniques and they will generallycombine techniques. They often misjudge how much damage they’ve caused whichcommonly results in serious injury or the victim’s death.

 This doesn’t mean they always leave scars. Some techniques, what I referto as ‘clean’ torture, don’t leave obvious external marks. This can maketorture incredibly hard to detect and prove.

 Deaths from clean torture techniques are often attributed to accidentsor an underlying health condition in the victim (for instance a sudden heartattack, stroke or organ failure).

 The pattern of abuse is generally that torturers use a lot of techniquesvery quickly, over a period of perhaps the first three days. After that theytend to start to lose interest in the particular victim and start concentratingtheir efforts on other individuals.

 In the longer term (ie months) what you tend to see is an irregularcycle of intense abuse, followed by longer periods when the victim ismore-or-less ignored.

 How to approach the question ofyour character having a romantic relationship as an adult depends on which ofthese three points is important to you in the story.

 In scenario 1) where the character is primarily a soldier/weapon I’dtreat it as if he’d escaped from a cult. Difficulty trusting his partner andhaving to take the relationship incredibly slowly both seem reasonable. Therelationship would probably also bring up a lot of self-doubt for thecharacter. His partner would probably contradict everything he was taught aboutpeople outside the organisation that raised him. He might find himself thinkingabout his childhood a lot and recognising ‘new’ things that were wrong orpoisonous about it.

 He might find innocent things his partner did reminded him of his ‘family’and ‘training’.

 You mightfind this BBC article, which interviews a woman who left a US cult, helpful forwriting that sort of scenario.

 In scenarios 2) and 3) your character would, realistically, have a lotof serious mental health problems. Youcan find out more about the common symptoms of torture here, these symptomswould also apply to someone used in unethical experimentation.

 We can’t predict which individual would develop which symptoms and notall victims experience all symptoms.

 From a writing perspective that means picking symptoms from the list andshowing them consistently impacting your character’s life. I advise pickingsymptoms based on what you feel fits the character and the story, for suchprolonged abuse at such a young age I’d say around 5 severe symptoms is a goodball-park figure but don’t be afraid to use more than that.

 The issues the character would encounter with a romantic relationshipwould be dependent on his symptoms. But generally speaking I’d expect him to finda romantic relationship, or indeed anylong term relationship extremely difficult. Perhaps cripplingly difficult.

 Healthy relationships are hardwork. It isn’t unrealistic for a character with such severe mental healthproblems to be in a long term relationship butthere are a lot of good reasons why a person in his position might choose not to be in a relationship.

 There is nothing wrong with a character putting his health first. And….essentiallyif this is the character’s first romantic relationship and he went through sucha prolonged and traumatic experience as a child I think he’d have to put his health before therelationship.

 I don’t mean he’d have to break off the relationship. I mean that hispartner would probably have to accept things like:

           ‘I know you spentmonths planning this holiday for us together but I’m going to have to cancel atthe last minute while in the airport because going through security is givingme a panic attack.’

           ‘I know you wanted us togo out for your birthday but my anxiety is awful today and I can’t leave thehouse.’

           ‘I know we were havinga lovely meal, but I’ve just been triggered and I’m now going to spend half anhour having a flashback in the restaurant bathroom.’

 Not everyone is accepting of these knock-on effects of mental healthproblems. Not everyone is OK with having to suddenly drop everything going onin their day because their partner is feeling suicidal.

 Even people who are acceptingof their partner’s health problems will make mistakes. They will almostcertainly accidentally trigger things, say things that feed into mental healthproblems or do small things that make the issue worse.

 There’s a lot in this scenario that I strongly advise you to re-thinkand re-write if you want something even close to realism. Until you make adecision about what sort of background you’d like the character to have I can’tgive more detail on how it would affect his future romantic relationships.

 Nonetheless I hope it helps you with your story and if you decide youwould like to make the character’s background more realistic I’d be happy tohelp with any further questions you have about how that would affect his adultlife and relationships. :)

Disclaimer

[avengershumanresources]

Dust to Dust (5)

Summary: Where did Hydra come from? An idea? A twisted dream? For an organization that spans centuries, it kept relatively quiet until contemporary times.The Super Soldier serum wasn’t dreamt up over night, but was the product of numerous experiments both unethical and violent over the course of the century. It was going to be the end of all conflicts between good and evil. Scientists died trying to determine the next level of the serum, only for it to be stolen by enemies. Back and forth until one side had the advantage.

Mabel Foster was everything the ideal woman should be in 1914. She was well brought-up, wealthy, educated and the heiress to a large fortune. When her father died in a much publicized U-boat attack by the Germans, Mabel made a decision that changed the course of history by enlisting in the French Army during WWI.

After an ambush gone bad, Mabel found herself captured by an early group of Hydra.100 years later she’s discovered in a desolate Hydra base and is taken by the Avengers for safe-keeping and questioning. Little do they realize that all of their destinies and pasts are directly connected through the nest that Hydra weaved.

Pairing: Bucky x OFC (Original Female Character)

Rating/Warnings: Mature- Graphic violence, torture, PTSD, smut

(Masterlist found HERE)

“You’re a liability.  You’re a little much for me.  So they pull back, make other plans.  I understand I’m a liability.”

– Lorde (Liability)

Central Park- Manhattan, New York, NY- May 1940

“Ah forget them,” Bucky threw a rock across the walkway.  A few passersby glanced up at the distraction and shuffled along.  The boys had been stood up for a date that Bucky was positive would have turned out well for Steve.  The girl was shy, sweet and sharp minded; the perfect match for his less than lucky friend.

But apparently she had other plans in mind for the evening.

“I’m used to it by now, Buck,” Steve shrugged and stuffed his hands in his pockets.  “I should probably get going though, I promised Ma that I’d grab some medicine for her.”

“She said she didn’t need it until later,” Bucky reminded him, rustling the blonde hair on his friend.  “You should really take a break and relax for a bit.”

“But she’s-,” he began to argue but his larger friend held up a hand.

“She always made sure I rested and relaxed when taking care of you, someone needs to do the same thing for you,” he reasoned sharply.  He hopped off of the park bench and scanned the surrounding area.  “I think I saw some hotdogs a little bit over.  My treat.”

“I can afford a hot dog,” Steve insisted with a scowl, but reluctantly followed after his friend.

“Sure you can Stevie,” Bucky smirked.  “But I got paid today and lord is it burning a hole in my pocket.”

“I’m getting two,” the blue eyed young man grinned and Bucky punched him in the shoulder playfully.

“For a little guy, you sure eat a lot,” he snorted, twirling on his heel to grin at a passing group of girls.

“I gotta keep my energy up to deal with you,” Steve shoved his friend along the pathway until the young women were out of sight.  “You’re exhausting.”

“And you’re a rude punk,” Bucky practically whined.  “You gotta learn to relax and have a little fun, Rogers.   The girls can tell.”

“Girls are the last thing on my mind,” Steve mumbled while the duo stood in line at a hot dog vendor.  “Well, maybe not the last thing, but they’re pretty close to the bottom."

“They can sense it,” Bucky pointed to his forehead and shifted to a serious frown.  “Some kind of mind reading or something.  They know.”

“They don’t know anything, I think you’ve been reading too many of those science fiction pulps,” Steve snorted before gesturing for his friend to pay for their food.  “You did insist on paying, didn’t you Buck?”

Bucky snorted and shook his head, taking a large bite out of his snack.  The sun was beginning to set on the park while the boys wandered the paths aimlessly.  Eventually they found themselves in the Sheep Meadow.

“Shame they got rid of the sheep,” Steve sighed with a frown.  “Would have been neat to see them.”

“Of course you’d get weepy about some sheep,” Bucky teased.  Steve didn’t reply, instead dropping down in the soft grass on the hill.

“It’s good to feel things sometimes, Buck,” Steve reminded him quietly.  “Even if it means getting weepy about sheep.”

Bucky leaned back into the grass next to his friend.  They stared up at the violet sunset in silence.

“You ever think about where you’ll be in ten years?” Bucky asked his friend in all seriousness.  Steve shifted slightly before speaking.

“I’ve always assumed I’d croak it,” Steve replied dryly.  “Though a wife and family would be nice.”

“You’re too damn stubborn to die and we both know it,” Bucky pointed out.  Steve laughed at the comment, shaking his head through the chuckles.

“You got me there,” he relented.  “What about you?”

“All the time,” he murmured.  “I wonder what my girl will be wearing when we fall in love.  What color her eyes will be…”

“Who’s getting weepy now?” Steve teased with a small punch toward Bucky.  The brunette allowed a laugh, but continued looking up at the first few stars of the night in silence.

“Yeah, I’m just secretly a huge sap,” Bucky laughed before hopping back to his feet and turning to his friend.  “Race you to the other side.”

And like always, Bucky would hold back while his friend wheezed through the steps.  And like always, he paid their subway fare back to Brooklyn.

Natasha had explained to Mabel that there were ways to get the brown color out of her hair aside from waiting for it to grow out.

This conversation arose after she caught the younger woman digging at the blonde roots of her hair and frowning in the bathroom mirror.

Needless to say, Mabel was ecstatic to go back to her natural blonde hair color.  The darkened hair had been thrown together in a panic and left a bitter reminder to her of what the past had held for her.  She was finally ready to accept the future and who she was, and that meant getting back to basics.

Wanda arranged for the stylist to come to the compound, apparently there was still a bit of apprehension in letting her back into society.  Mabel didn’t mind though.

She wasn’t sure herself if she wanted to go back.

The process was something else entirely.  Hairstylists today were basically chemists compared to the older women who carted around bows and hair fixtures in her day.  Natasha tried her best to explain the process each step of the way, but eventually was distracted by a topic of interest by Wanda.

Mabel listened to the two women chatting and closed her eyes while the stylist washed the bleach (which Mabel quickly learned, was not the cleaning product) out of her hair.  The movements were so soft and gentle that she didn’t even realize she’d fallen asleep.

That was until she was tackled against a wall, a solid metal object hitting the floor with a clank.  

Blinking in confusion, she looked around at the women.  The stylist had finished packing her supplies and stood in horror at the entrance of room.  Natasha had her hand pressed against Mabel’s wrist and an elbow in the crease of her neck.

When she looked at what she’d dropped, she realized that she’d grabbed a decorative metal figure off of the shelf near where Natasha and Wanda had been sitting.

Wanda was trying to usher the stylist out, while Natasha was trying to gauge Mabel.  The redhead stared deep into Mabel’s eyes before loosening her grip on the woman slightly.

“You back with us?” she asked with a quick scan of Mabel’s features.  

“I believe I am,” Mabel replied slowly.   “Though I don’t remember leaving.” Natasha pulled her arms down, but kept a defensive stance.  She was ready to intervene if anything else were to happen.

After Wanda practically shoved the stylist out of the room, she joined the women and looked Mabel over with a cautious gaze, her eyes flickering red.

“We should probably get you upstairs,” Natasha frowned at Mabel.  Upstairs meant the lab.  And the lab meant that there was a problem.

Suddenly Mabel no longer felt like an out-place-guest, but a monster to be cautious of.

The walk to the lab was mainly silence interchanged with murmurs between Natasha and Wanda.  Mabel didn’t blame them, she clearly had been triggered by something and had intended harm.  If she’d been in their shoes, she probably would have made the call to shoot on sight.  

Passing a reflective surface, Mabel was able to catch a glimpse of her new hair.

It was reassuring that she looked the way Mabel Foster was supposed to look, even if she’d never felt so far away from herself in her life.

“You didn’t hear?  Apparently Foster went haywire and started attack Nat and Wanda when she was getting her hair done,” Sam and Clint were sharing a pizza, chatting between bites.

“I told them it was a bad idea,” Sam tutted under his breath, not realizing that Bucky had joined the pair in the room.  “Can’t have a psycho-murderer wandering around.”

“You’re too kind,” Bucky commented, grabbing a slice for himself.  Clint snorted on his bite and started to cough through his laughter.

“Man, you know we’re cool,” Sam rolled his eyes.  “Your brain isn’t on the fritz anymore.  But I’m sure you remember the damage you single handedly caused in an afternoon."

Bucky definitely remembered.  It was impossible not to.  When someone’s mind only knows vengeance and anger, a lot of progress can be made.  Negative or positive.  Spite was a powerful weapon.

“So what happened?” he questioned, only hearing the latter half of the conversation.

“Victorian Sally lost her shit a few hours ago,” Clint summarized reaching for the last piece.  He snagged it before Sam even glanced down, and smirked victoriously in the flying Avenger’s direction.

“Edwardian,” Bucky corrected with an arched brow in Clint’s direction.  “But we only keep you around for your good looks, so don’t feel too bad.”

“I thought that’s why we kept you around, tall, brooding and handsome,” Clint threw a crumpled napkin at his teammate.

“I’d recommend stopping by the lab though.  Wanda, Steve and the science twins have been locked up there with her all afternoon and if it’s anything like your treatment-,” he grimaced.  “Maybe having someone who’d been through it before would be helpful.”

Bucky wasn’t so sure.  There were a few times he broke down in the most vulnerable ways- and having an even larger audience didn’t help.  The broken lab equipment that suffered probably could speak more truths than arguing with the archer.

“Yeah,” he shrugged.  “I’ll check it out.”

He started toward the elevator and barely heard Sam make another comment.

“They’re all gonna die.  I swear, make my words,” he insisted in a hushed tone.

Perhaps in theory, pulling her memories and seeing what her exact triggers were would have been a good idea.

But by the third hour of Wanda digging through her mind and replaying the years of abuse and torture she’d suffered, Mabel was beginning to think otherwise.

This particular memory was a gruesome one- and it didn’t even involve Hydra.

It involved Joseph Rogers final moments; and Mabel could sense Wanda’s pain as she experienced it for the first time.

The joke was on them- Mabel replayed that memory hundreds of times as a reminder of where her last shred of empathy and humanity had left her.

“Ok, Wanda take a break,” Steve’s voice pulled the women out of their connection and both girls exchanged a similar look of pain.

“I’m very, very, sorry,” Wanda murmured miserably.  She looked worn down, Mabel realized.  Perhaps Mabel’s life was more exhausting than she’d credited it for.  There was certainly a high body count that she’d been associated with.

“Buck, you can come in,” Steve looked toward the lab door, his face a mix of pity and frustration.  “How are you two feeling?” he looked between Wanda and Mabel, frowning at their lack of responses.

“I may need some rest,” Wanda admitted after a heartbeat of silence between the group.

“I think that’s a good idea,” Dr. Banner chimed in.  “There’s a lot to dig through and it seems like we’ve barely covered anything.  It’s better to keep everyone in their best shape.”

“What have you found out?” she could hear Bucky muttering to Steve in the corner.  The blonde haired man glanced over at her and then repositioned so he could better talk without her listening.

They hadn’t found out much, aside from the exact words that sent her into a frenzy with Natasha and Wanda.  So, Tony had suggested that Wanda try to pull information that may have been hidden in the depths of Mabel’s mind.

The problem was that she couldn’t even remember words being placed there, so they were dissecting as many traumatic memories as possible to find anything.

Tony had remained uncharacteristically quiet throughout the process, only occasionally glancing up from his computer.  His presence was primarily data related, though he did come up with the original suggestion when similar methods to Bucky wouldn’t work.

He only really moved when Wanda practically collapsed and Steve caught her before she hit the floor.  Dr. Banner volunteered to help move her to her room and the trio disappeared through the lab door.

This left Bucky, Mabel and Tony, all sitting in a terse silence.  

“How are you?” he asked, his blue eyes flickering to the pale Mabel.  

“I am wonderful, Mr. Barnes,” she replied, her tone laced with venom.  She hadn’t meant for it to come off so biting, but her head pulsed in pain from the invasive procedure.

“I’m sensing sarcasm,” Tony announced, a stray glance from his computer.  Mabel swallowed back the sharp response she had planned, instead staring down at her hands.  It really wasn’t pleasant having your most traumatic memories relived, one by one.

In fact, she was rather exhausted, but Mabel was certain that she wouldn’t be able to sleep in her own bed tonight.  It’d be another night locked in a hospital room.

“Just remember, whatever happened, it wasn’t you,” Bucky murmured under the hum of computers and lab equipment.  “It can be a lot to take it, but I’m willing to bet we’ll figure it out.”

Tony snorted across the lab.

“We’ll?” he questioned the soldier with raised brows and an amused expression.  “Didn’t realize you’d joined the team, Tin Man.”

“It makes the most sense, right?” he shrugged the comment off and focused on Mabel.  “Besides, out of all of us, I think I can relate the most.”

There was that, Mabel added mentally.  And the fact that he was the only person who didn’t step around her like she was a bomb, ready to explode.

“Do you know them?  The trigger words?” he edged closer to her, his expression fixed in concentration.

“We found out a handful today,” Tony explained before Mabel could speak. “Wanda and Natasha were chatting in Russian before little Mabel here lost her mind.  But she let loose with random violence, and wasn’t under control like you.”

“Russian for Paris, broken and central,” Tony added.

“They were talking about the bombing this morning,” Bucky noted with a hum.  He looked up at Tony before knitting his brows in concentration with Mabel. For an instant, hazel met blue before Mabel flushed and looked away due to the intimate intensity.

Bucky leaned back into his chair and released a long held breath while in thought.  He started to lean forward and shake his head silently, earning a curious look from Mabel and Tony.

“You look like you have a terrible idea that I’d love to be involved in,” Tony commented, snapping his computer shut and walking over to the duo.  Mabel watched between the two men wearily.  Her head was already spinning.  She certainly was not in the mood for more mind games.

“It’s risky though,” Bucky admitted before sending an empathetic frown in Mabel’s direction.  “Not particularly ethical.”

Then it hit her.

“You want to trigger it,” she realized out loud.

“Maybe we can get you to reveal the rest,” Bucky shrugged.  “I had to listen to every command, we can use that in our favor.”

“Or you’ll kill everyone,” Tony added casually.

Mabel paused, weighing out her options.  She could let Wanda sift through every intimate and personal detail of her life, or they could jump in and see what happened.  Honestly, Mabel trusted Bucky with her safety than anyone else.  He knew what to expect, he knew how to shut it down.

“You two will keep everyone safe, correct?” she clarified firmly.

“It’s what we do, Mae,” Tony replied with a tight nod.  “I still don’t get why Wilson has his feathers in a ruffle about this.  Nat took you down in seconds, and I’m willing to bet that Barnes can cut that time in half.”

“I promise I won’t hurt you,” Bucky added earnestly.  “We’ll keep you safe too.  At least physically.”

That’s right, Mabel mused.  They can’t exactly protect her from her mind.  

“I didn’t think they’d gotten in that deep,” Mabel finally admitted under her breath.

“They’re parasites,” Bucky reached forward and gripped her hand with his flesh hand in reassurance.  “It isn’t you.  They took the worst pieces of us and used it to their advantage.”

“What if I killed innocent people?” she whispered to him, almost forgetting that Tony sat behind her, watching the conversation with interest.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t killed people as a soldier.  She’d pointed the barrel of her gun at plenty of men; but she remembered all of them.  Every life taken, on and off the books- it was her personal sin to amend for down the line.

The fact there was a gap, a hole in her nightmares to be filled, nearly overwhelmed her.

“You were too strong for them to kill you, so they used you as a pawn,” Bucky squeezed her hand and they met eyes again.  The hardened blue that usually shone from him had softened and a small, reassuring smile crinkled the edges of his eyes.

“I recommend making a choice soon, because they’ll be back and Spangles will not be happy about this particular plan,” Tony voiced, snapping Mabel out of the daze.  Bucky’s hand was still gripping hers in comfort, and despite the embarrassment she felt of such a personal gesture, she realized that she needed the anchor.

“Let’s try it,” she decided, her voice raised in confidence.  She wanted to ask what the worst that could happen, but both her and Bucky inherently knew the danger of the task- she was more worried that Tony didn’t realize what, exactly, he was committing to.

“Oops,” Stark pressed a button on a nearby monitor and grinned at the pair.  “It looks like the lab is completely blacked out and locked out.  What a crazy accident.  Would you like to do the honors Barnes?”

Mabel could practically see his mind racing at the decision.  Yet for some strange reason, she needed it to be him.

“It’s ok,” she forced a smile to him.  “I’ll be fine, Bucky.  I trust you.”

At the sound of his name, he nodded stoically and began to speak.  She trusted him.

“Центральный, Париж, Сломанный,” he kept his hand in hers, watching for a reaction.  Tony stood to the side, watching with both amusement and curiosity.  

It felt like both men were mad for even considering such a dangerous task.

It took a second, but Mabel’s eyes dilated and she twisted Bucky’s arm behind his back sharply.

“Qui es-tu?” she demanded, leaping from her spot and seeking out the first weapon she could get her hands on.  “Reponds-moi.”

“Oh no you don’t,” Tony intervened, a mechanical armor surrounding his arm when he grabbed her wrist before she dove at Bucky with a nearby syringe.  

“Laisse-moi partir!” she snarled, her nails digging at the metal edges.   Bucky was a bit impressed.  She was faster than he would have guessed, and her healing advantage didn’t make it too easy of a fight.  If she was a bit stronger, he could have seen Hydra using her over the century instead of him.  “Ou suis-je?!”  

Despite her bloodied fingers, she continued to dig and twist at Tony until she snapped her hand free with a sickening crack.

“She just broke her wrist,” Tony stated in horror, backing away from the woman.  “On purpose.”

She simply blinked at the injury before twisting her hand roughly back into place and going after Bucky again.

“We’re trying to help,” Bucky tried in French.  Instead she hissed a slew of curses and went for his neck with the large needle that she’d somehow secured during her interaction with Tony.

“Soldat!” he tried, his voice raising.  It was a grasp in the dark, but it seemed to work.  Mabel froze in place, her arms dropping to her sides and the needle crashing to the floor.

“Pret a respector,” she replied, eyes staring forward.  Ready to comply.

“Tell me,” he paused, his French a little rustier than he would have liked.  “Tell me- who in Hydra is your handler?"

“Docteur Krauss,” came her instant reply.  “Pret a respector, monsieur.”

“What are your trigger words?” he tried, but Mabel looked like she was going to weep while waiting for instructions.  The swirling memories- the darkness.  Bucky knew it well.

“Pret a respector,” she repeated, her voice shaking slightly.  Her hands clenched into a fist.

“I order you to tell me how to control the soldier,” his heart openly broke at the sight in front of him.  She was fighting so hard against whatever demon that haunted her mind.

“Pret a respector.”

“How does your handler activate the soldier?” Tony voiced from the back of the room.  Mabel whirled on her heel to face the armored brunette.  “This is an order from Dr. Krauss.”

“Paris, casse, central, gaz moutarde, femme, explosion,” she recited automatically.  “Pret a respector.”

“Do not comply,” Bucky stated firmly.  She twirled back around and narrowed her gaze.

“Is this the target?” she questioned Tony, frowning.  The genius looked at Bucky in surprise and shrugged.

“I don’t know, are you?” he asked, returning to English.  “Any idea how we snap her out of it?”

Bucky grimaced at the thought before speaking up.  What had Natasha called it the few encounters he’d been forced out of his brainwashing?

Cognitive recalibration.

“We’ve got to hit her in the head, hard,” he answered dryly, bracing himself for the inevitable.

“That is your target, soldier,” Tony acknowledged, amusement clearly apparent.  Bucky knew the man wasn’t his biggest fan, but he never would have expected how much joy he was getting from this, especially after Mabel began to attack.

Mabel practically flew at Bucky’s chest, her legs going for his torso.  He was able to lift her without too much trouble and toss her into a nearby wall.  She hit the structure with a loud thud, but recovered quickly.  She charged for his legs, catching him off guard and tackling him to the ground.

He was holding back, but Bucky was beginning to think he didn’t need to.  She went for a swing at his face before he held her back with his metal arm.  He shoved her to the side and tried to pin the thrashing woman down before he felt something dig into his side.

She’d found his knife, and slid it in nicely between his ribs.

“Dammit,” he cursed, yanking the metal object out and throwing it at Tony’s feet.  “At least keep weapons away from her, Stark.”

“I’m not the one who feels the need to carry an eight-inch blade with me everywhere,” Tony shot back, picking up the weapon and tucking it away from her range.

“Mabel,” Bucky tried after he leaned his elbow into her chest.  She continued screaming in French, occasionally dipping in Russian and German.  Hadn’t she assured him that she didn’t know Russian?  “Foster!  Snap out of it.”

“Over your dead body,” she hissed, before biting down on his arm and drawing blood.  He pressed down on her neck with his metal arm and her head snapped backwards into the tile.

After that, everything stilled.  Tony took a few steps forward hesitantly, and Bucky released his grip from the unmoving soldier.

It felt like an eternity before her eyes fluttered open, taking in the scene around her.  A few pieces of equipment had been sacrificed in the ordeal, and at least one of the walls sported a hole.  

“You with us kid?” Tony asked after Bucky pulled away and sat a few feet away.  The super soldier hadn’t expected such a violent response, though they were able to get some of the answers they sought.  He quietly stood up and grabbed a nearby gauze for his forearm and side.  

She fought quick and dirty, a reflection of the era she was molded in.

“Yes,” she replied, sitting up with a hand on her forehead.  She leaned back on her free hand and looked to Bucky.  “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine, thanks,” Tony was at her side, helping her to her feet toward the examination table.

“You’re not bleeding,” she pointed out, her attention shooting back to her fellow soldier.  “Mr. Barnes?”

“You nicked me with a knife,” he explained, lifting his shirt to reveal the wound.  Already it was beginning to heal amongst the other scars that lined his torso.  “And bit me.”

“Bit you,” she repeated with wide eyes.  He tried not to chuckle as she tried her best to avoid looking at his naked side.  She looked at his shoes.  “Did we find the answers we needed?”

“Have some decency Barnes,” Tony laughed, pulling down Bucky’s shirt and turning to Mabel.  “We know the words.  Now we just need to know the why, hopefully Wanda can help a little with that.  But, it’s going to be mostly you, and being willing to talk it through.”

While Bucky mended himself, he saw a flash of panic in Mabel’s eyes.  He didn’t blame her.  There was some ugliness that needed to be pulled out and from personal experience; it wasn’t pretty.

“Am I allowed to leave?” she asked absently, after Tony read off the words in English.  “To go to my room?"

“As far as I’m concerned, as long as no one says the magic words, you can have the same amount of freedom as before.  Just try to have someone with you whenever you’re outside your room,” Tony reasoned after typing up a few notes on his computer.  

Mabel slid off of the table wordlessly and stood, waiting for Tony to unlock the lab.  She sent a pointed look at him, and he got the message loud and clear.

“They’re probably going to kill us soon enough anyway,” Tony sighed, unlocking the doors.  “I recommend you two getting a head start, they’re about two floors away.”

Bucky knew the last thing either of them wanted was a lecture on personal safety from Steve.  He looped his arm around Mabel’s and pulled her through the door and down an emergency corridor toward the back staircase.

Mabel moved like a zombie- her mind in a daze and her movements slow.  She barely reacted to Bucky tugging her forward, her feet only listening one step at a time.  

They hid away in the staircase, a large metal door closing behind the pair before he turned on the young woman.  It’d been about a month since they’d first met and finally the mask she forced upon herself daily had slipped away.  What he was seeing was a shell of a woman, taken by terrorists and tortured until she shattered.  It was like looking into a mirror.

Bucky did what he wished someone would have done for him, and pulled her into a tight embrace.  Her small frame practically collapsed into him, and she buried her face into his chest, her body shaking while she tried to steady her breathing.

They sank to the floor, Bucky murmuring comforts in her ear while she broke down in his arms.

He wasn’t sure how long they sat like this, but he didn’t move until she stilled.  She’d fallen asleep in a fit of exhaustion.  Twice, she’d been activated that day.  He was honestly surprised she hadn’t dropped down in the lab after their fight.  He stood up, careful to lift her body in his arms so he wouldn’t wake her.  Sleep was such a seldom luxury around here, and he was sure she needed every minute of it.

He began the trek toward their rooms, but paused outside of Mabel’s room when he realized he’d need a retinal scan to open the door.  Unwilling to wake the sleeping woman, he relented and took her to his own quarters, a smaller room tucked away on the far end of the living area.

The door slid open without too much trouble and he set her on his bed, pulling back the sheets and tucking her into place.  For someone with so many burdens, she seemed so tiny compared to him.  Tiny and vulnerable.

She rolled toward him and murmured under her breath, shifting so her hair fell over her features.  It was a natural movement, he reached forward and tucked the stray hair behind her ears.

Mabel looked so content sleeping, he’d almost forgotten to set himself a bed on the sofa.

Sure, he had a king sized bed, but between his gentlemanly guilt and her potential horror of waking up next to him, he figured it would be the best bet.

Even if every bone in his body ached after the ordeal.

Paris, central, broken, woman, mustard gas, and explosion.

He thought through the words carefully, trying to think of their connections with the woman’s past.  So simple.  Like his.  Yet they meant enough to bring her world crashing down.

Central Park, Manhattan, New York, NY- May 1911

“It’s too crowded here,” Mabel confessed with a frown.  She looked up at her companion, her arm locked neatly in his.  “Not here, but in the city.  Too many people."

“The pretty rich girl wants to run away?” Samuel teased, that smirk sending an involuntary flutter through Mabel’s heart.  “Where have I heard that story?”

“Mind yourself,” she countered with a small smile.  “My mother would lose her senses; but perhaps status and wealth aren’t everything in this world.”

“My stars,” Sam chuckled and loosened his arm, pulling Mabel to a small corner behind a shrub.  “You’re talking crazy, Miss Foster.  Are you quite all right?  Perhaps it’s the fumes?”

“Sam,” she pulled her hand away, her cheeks reddening at the sudden display, but Samuel held on tight and pulled her a little closer.  “People will see…”

“Let them,” he announced and gave her a twirl.  They continued down the flowered corridor, earning a few stares and running through the falling flowers before they made it to the Sheep Meadow.  Mabel dropped onto the soft grass, rolling to her side and laughing.  Samuel plopped down next to her and took her hand in his.  He gave it a soft kiss before gesturing out to the large field.

“We could move west, raise a huge flock of sheep,” he looked at her excitedly.  “I’m sure you have a lot of experience with livestock.”

“I held a chicken once,” Mabel chimed up excitedly.  His grin spread even further.

“Perfect, but I’ll focus on the business, you’ll have to tend to the children,” he paused and she fell backward into the grass, the plush surface cradling her head softly.

“We’ll have five,” she decided firmly.  “A big family.  Isiah, Mary, Felicity, Joshua, and Sarah.”

“Three girls might be a bit much,” he noted, his voice a little timid at the prospect.

“And two boys aren’t?  At least the girls can whip them into gentlemen,” she giggled.  Sam rolled closer to her and soon the pair studied one another’s faces.

“When do we leave?” he asked in a whisper, his hand reaching forward and tracing the edges of her face.

“Tonight,” she replied jokingly.  “Though you have to get Papa’s blessing first.”

“That might take a while.  I’m not sure the help would be a good match for the great Maxwell Foster’s daughter,” Sam rolled onto his back again and stared up at the stars that slowly began to cover the sky.  “Besides, what about Pierre?” he practically spat the name of Maxwell’s recently taken on ward and allegedly Mabel’s betrothed.

Mabel knew their status differences hurt Sam, but she had meant what she said earlier.  It meant nothing to her.  They could run away and live in poverty the rest of her days and she’d still be happier than sitting in her gilded tower without him.

She crawled over to him, leaning her forearms on his chest and looking straight into his eyes.

“Samuel O’Brien, Papa already likes you,” she reminded him.  “And he’s always ignored mother when it comes to these silly things and she’s the one pushing for Pierre.  I will speak to him, you’ll see.  We will be together.”

Sam grinned brightly and quickly grabbed Mabel by the shoulders for a quick kiss.

“I believe you’re due back at the castle m’lady,” he teased, slipping away before he could incur her lectures.  

Yet Mabel wasn’t in the mood for lectures, in fact, her heart wished she could lay with him in that grassy field for eternity, even with the sheep bleating in the background.

“You’ll meet me tomorrow though?” she sent a desperate look in his direction and he returned to her side, kneeling and kissing her hand.

“For my princess?  Always.”

PART 6

[yes-dal456]

Oprah Wants The World To Know Henrietta Lacks Is A Hidden Figure No More

Oprah Winfrey is a one-of-a-kind woman.

Her life story is inspiring, her presence powerful and her influence unmatched. And when it comes to successful black women in media, Oprah reigns supreme.

But if Oprah is a well-crafted diamond, consider Baltimore the pressure that helped make her shine. She moved to the city in 1976 to pursue her career as a newscaster, which presented both great opportunities for success as well as challenges she eventually overcame. She spent nearly eight years in the city, first working for a local TV station ― where she was assigned to learn about every neighborhood ― and later as a personable and popular co-host for a show called “People are Talking” that helped to significantly boost her profile. 

She told stories, and she told them well ― but in the nearly eight years she lived in the city and of all the people she came across, there was one hugely significant story of a woman who lived in Baltimore who she ― and much of the world ― never knew about: Her name was Henrietta Lacks, also known as the “mother of modern medicine,” and she was a black woman who produced the first immortal human cell line, known as HeLa, that has entirely revolutionized medical research.

“I worked in Baltimore as a young reporter from the time I was 22 to 30. I lived there, I went to church every Sunday,” Oprah said Tuesday at a press event with all black women reporters, including myself. “I am a student of the African American culture ... I have never, in all of my readings, in all of my stories, heard of HeLa or Henrietta Lacks. I could not believe that, how could I have been in this town all this time and never seen one thing about her?”

It wasn’t until Oprah read Rebecca Skloot’s New York Times best-selling biographical book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks that she learned of Lacks’ story and how she changed the world.  

“When I first read her story in 2010, I wanted to tell the story,” she said. And by “tell,” she meant giving the story the full-blown Oprah treatment and bringing it to life through film and her own magic touch. Because, after all, when Oprah stumbles across a good story, she shares it with the world.

“It is my nature to share everything,” she said. “I wanted as many people to know about the story as possible ... and so now you do.”

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” premieres Saturday on HBO, starring Winfrey as Deborah, Lacks’ daughter, who was desperate to learn more about her mother’s cells and how they have been used for medical research. The family had been unaware of the dealings of Lacks’ cells for decades because her name had been changed to Helen Lane in print. This effectively concealed Lacks’ identity and kept hidden from the family how her cells had been “taken, bought, sold and used in research without her knowledge or theirs,” according to Skloot’s book.

Skloot, a freelance science writer from Portland, Oregon, first learned of Lacks’ story in high school and was so moved by it that she pushed to make it more widely known through her book ― which took years of heavy research and the family’s cooperation to create. Skloot, who is portrayed in the film by actress Rose Byrne, tracked Deborah down, and together, the two went on a journey to discover what exactly had happened to Lacks’ cells. The experience also unveiled truths that allowed Deborah to learn more about herself and her heritage.

“The reason Deborah is taking the journey [with Rebecca] in the first place is because she really wants to know about her mother’s cells,” Oprah said. “The journey for her is to discover herself and by learning about her mother, she [did]. This relationship becomes her balm, her solace, her comfort.”

Oprah is remarkable in her role as she portrays Deborah’s perseverance and the pain she experienced for decades from not knowing more about her mother. Deborah wanted to dig into history to discover what exactly happened that day in 1951 when Lacks, who was a mother of five, entered Johns Hopkins Hospital. And Deborah demanded to know how it was possible that her cancer cells continued to live on despite the fact that they also led to her death later that same year.

Lacks was 31 when she first checked herself into the hospital for the excruciating pain she had been experiencing in her lower stomach. Doctors discovered that a cancerous tumor had been growing on her cervix at a terrifying rate. Researchers at the time were conducting studies to better understand the cancer and, though Lacks never gave doctors authorized permission, they removed two dime-sized pieces of tissue that were eventually used to successfully create the first immortal human cells ― those that could repeatedly replicate themselves outside of the body without ever dying. They came to be known as HeLa.

It was a fascinating discovery and one that shocked doctors, who knew that HeLa cells had potential to make way for a new world of possibilities in medicine. And they did. Over the decades, HeLa cells have led to countless medical breakthroughs ― they helped to create the first polio vaccine; have traveled to space for research on the impact zero gravity has on human cells; been used to identify abnormalities in chromosomes; helped in studying the mapping of the human genome; and aided in research of the human papillomavirus, commonly known as HPV, which causes the cervical cancer that killed Lacks.

To many, what happened to Lacks is perceived as a disturbing and unethical case. However, Tony-award winning actress Renee Goldsberry, who beautifully portrays Lacks in the film, believes she showed immense courage throughout her harrowing experience at Hopkins ― which, Goldsberry said, is a reminder of the bravery black women, like her own grandmother, express every day. 

“I love the bravery with which she moves through the biggest nightmare anyone can imagine, and that I think that informs me of the bravery my grandmother must have had,” Goldsberry told reporters Tuesday. “That’s what inspires, that’s what I want all of us to take from this, it’s to embrace the idea that these women were powerful. Not victims, they’re powerful.”

George C. Wolfe, the award-winning director who led this film, reinforced that message, saying that while it’s important to reflect on the painful parts of Lacks’ legacy, it’s also crucial that we examine what makes her story so empowering.

“When you speak about Jim Crow, it’s important to talk about the injustice of it but equally important is to talk about how the community fortified itself. Henrietta was part of that dynamic,” he said. “[She had] an incredible sense of responsibility and caring and needing and nurturing and therefore then the cells come along and they’re continuing to do the exact same thing.”  

“And one of the things that I love, really, really, conceptually love,” he continued, “is that on paper, you would look at Henrietta Lacks: She’s marginally educated, she’s a black woman in Jim Crow South, she has five children when she’s 31 ... you’d go: ‘Oh, [she has] no power.’ But in death, any time HeLa comes into contact with any other cell, they [show that they are] in charge ... that power of who she was just continues to live on.”

Any time HeLa comes into contact with any other cell, they [show that they are] in charge ... that power of who she was just continues to live on.” George C. Wolfe

It was Wolfe and his well-respected work in theater and film that ultimately convinced Oprah to play the protagonist Deborah in the movie, which she admitted was a challenging but rewarding role. She also credits her experiences in media for helping to mold her into the actress she is today.

“I’ve done a lot of healing being on the ‘Oprah’ show every day; it really was an effective space for me to learn a lot about myself, and life and people and dysfunction,” she said.

Like Oprah, Lacks’ influence in the world is uniquely powerful. And now, more people are able to learn of the real story behind the woman who, in a very special way, lived on even after her death. Sadly, as remarkable as both the book and the film are, Deborah never got to see them. She died in her sleep in 2009, mere months before the book’s release. But Oprah believes she now rests peacefully, knowing she did and gave all she could to have the world know the truth about her mother.

“I think that in the end, that’s what gave her a sense of peace and why she was able to leave the planet, because she knew it had been done,” Oprah said. “The real work that she came to do, the real work that she needed to resolve within herself, had been finished.”

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from http://ift.tt/2pHRDOq from Blogger http://ift.tt/2oVrNUt

[ongames]

Oprah Wants The World To Know Henrietta Lacks Is A Hidden Figure No More

Oprah Winfrey is a one-of-a-kind woman.

Her life story is inspiring, her presence powerful and her influence unmatched. And when it comes to successful black women in media, Oprah reigns supreme.

But if Oprah is a well-crafted diamond, consider Baltimore the pressure that helped make her shine. She moved to the city in 1976 to pursue her career as a newscaster, which presented both great opportunities for success as well as challenges she eventually overcame. She spent nearly eight years in the city, first working for a local TV station ― where she was assigned to learn about every neighborhood ― and later as a personable and popular co-host for a show called “People are Talking” that helped to significantly boost her profile. 

She told stories, and she told them well ― but in the nearly eight years she lived in the city and of all the people she came across, there was one hugely significant story of a woman who lived in Baltimore who she ― and much of the world ― never knew about: Her name was Henrietta Lacks, also known as the “mother of modern medicine,” and she was a black woman who produced the first immortal human cell line, known as HeLa, that has entirely revolutionized medical research.

“I worked in Baltimore as a young reporter from the time I was 22 to 30. I lived there, I went to church every Sunday,” Oprah said Tuesday at a press event with all black women reporters, including myself. “I am a student of the African American culture ... I have never, in all of my readings, in all of my stories, heard of HeLa or Henrietta Lacks. I could not believe that, how could I have been in this town all this time and never seen one thing about her?”

It wasn’t until Oprah read Rebecca Skloot’s New York Times best-selling biographical book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks that she learned of Lacks’ story and how she changed the world.  

“When I first read her story in 2010, I wanted to tell the story,” she said. And by “tell,” she meant giving the story the full-blown Oprah treatment and bringing it to life through film and her own magic touch. Because, after all, when Oprah stumbles across a good story, she shares it with the world.

“It is my nature to share everything,” she said. “I wanted as many people to know about the story as possible ... and so now you do.”

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” premieres Saturday on HBO, starring Winfrey as Deborah, Lacks’ daughter, who was desperate to learn more about her mother’s cells and how they have been used for medical research. The family had been unaware of the dealings of Lacks’ cells for decades because her name had been changed to Helen Lane in print. This effectively concealed Lacks’ identity and kept hidden from the family how her cells had been “taken, bought, sold and used in research without her knowledge or theirs,” according to Skloot’s book.

Skloot, a freelance science writer from Portland, Oregon, first learned of Lacks’ story in high school and was so moved by it that she pushed to make it more widely known through her book ― which took years of heavy research and the family’s cooperation to create. Skloot, who is portrayed in the film by actress Rose Byrne, tracked Deborah down, and together, the two went on a journey to discover what exactly had happened to Lacks’ cells. The experience also unveiled truths that allowed Deborah to learn more about herself and her heritage.

“The reason Deborah is taking the journey [with Rebecca] in the first place is because she really wants to know about her mother’s cells,” Oprah said. “The journey for her is to discover herself and by learning about her mother, she [did]. This relationship becomes her balm, her solace, her comfort.”

Oprah is remarkable in her role as she portrays Deborah’s perseverance and the pain she experienced for decades from not knowing more about her mother. Deborah wanted to dig into history to discover what exactly happened that day in 1951 when Lacks, who was a mother of five, entered Johns Hopkins Hospital. And Deborah demanded to know how it was possible that her cancer cells continued to live on despite the fact that they also led to her death later that same year.

Lacks was 31 when she first checked herself into the hospital for the excruciating pain she had been experiencing in her lower stomach. Doctors discovered that a cancerous tumor had been growing on her cervix at a terrifying rate. Researchers at the time were conducting studies to better understand the cancer and, though Lacks never gave doctors authorized permission, they removed two dime-sized pieces of tissue that were eventually used to successfully create the first immortal human cells ― those that could repeatedly replicate themselves outside of the body without ever dying. They came to be known as HeLa.

It was a fascinating discovery and one that shocked doctors, who knew that HeLa cells had potential to make way for a new world of possibilities in medicine. And they did. Over the decades, HeLa cells have led to countless medical breakthroughs ― they helped to create the first polio vaccine; have traveled to space for research on the impact zero gravity has on human cells; been used to identify abnormalities in chromosomes; helped in studying the mapping of the human genome; and aided in research of the human papillomavirus, commonly known as HPV, which causes the cervical cancer that killed Lacks.

To many, what happened to Lacks is perceived as a disturbing and unethical case. However, Tony-award winning actress Renee Goldsberry, who beautifully portrays Lacks in the film, believes she showed immense courage throughout her harrowing experience at Hopkins ― which, Goldsberry said, is a reminder of the bravery black women, like her own grandmother, express every day. 

“I love the bravery with which she moves through the biggest nightmare anyone can imagine, and that I think that informs me of the bravery my grandmother must have had,” Goldsberry told reporters Tuesday. “That’s what inspires, that’s what I want all of us to take from this, it’s to embrace the idea that these women were powerful. Not victims, they’re powerful.”

George C. Wolfe, the award-winning director who led this film, reinforced that message, saying that while it’s important to reflect on the painful parts of Lacks’ legacy, it’s also crucial that we examine what makes her story so empowering.

“When you speak about Jim Crow, it’s important to talk about the injustice of it but equally important is to talk about how the community fortified itself. Henrietta was part of that dynamic,” he said. “[She had] an incredible sense of responsibility and caring and needing and nurturing and therefore then the cells come along and they’re continuing to do the exact same thing.”  

“And one of the things that I love, really, really, conceptually love,” he continued, “is that on paper, you would look at Henrietta Lacks: She’s marginally educated, she’s a black woman in Jim Crow South, she has five children when she’s 31 ... you’d go: ‘Oh, [she has] no power.’ But in death, any time HeLa comes into contact with any other cell, they [show that they are] in charge ... that power of who she was just continues to live on.”

Any time HeLa comes into contact with any other cell, they [show that they are] in charge ... that power of who she was just continues to live on.” George C. Wolfe

It was Wolfe and his well-respected work in theater and film that ultimately convinced Oprah to play the protagonist Deborah in the movie, which she admitted was a challenging but rewarding role. She also credits her experiences in media for helping to mold her into the actress she is today.

“I’ve done a lot of healing being on the ‘Oprah’ show every day; it really was an effective space for me to learn a lot about myself, and life and people and dysfunction,” she said.

Like Oprah, Lacks’ influence in the world is uniquely powerful. And now, more people are able to learn of the real story behind the woman who, in a very special way, lived on even after her death. Sadly, as remarkable as both the book and the film are, Deborah never got to see them. She died in her sleep in 2009, mere months before the book’s release. But Oprah believes she now rests peacefully, knowing she did and gave all she could to have the world know the truth about her mother.

“I think that in the end, that’s what gave her a sense of peace and why she was able to leave the planet, because she knew it had been done,” Oprah said. “The real work that she came to do, the real work that she needed to resolve within herself, had been finished.”

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Oprah Wants The World To Know Henrietta Lacks Is A Hidden Figure No More published first on http://ift.tt/2lnpciY

[imreviewblog]

Oprah Wants The World To Know Henrietta Lacks Is A Hidden Figure No More

Oprah Winfrey is a one-of-a-kind woman.

Her life story is inspiring, her presence powerful and her influence unmatched. And when it comes to successful black women in media, Oprah reigns supreme.

But if Oprah is a well-crafted diamond, consider Baltimore the pressure that helped make her shine. She moved to the city in 1976 to pursue her career as a newscaster, which presented both great opportunities for success as well as challenges she eventually overcame. She spent nearly eight years in the city, first working for a local TV station ― where she was assigned to learn about every neighborhood ― and later as a personable and popular co-host for a show called “People are Talking” that helped to significantly boost her profile. 

She told stories, and she told them well ― but in the nearly eight years she lived in the city and of all the people she came across, there was one hugely significant story of a woman who lived in Baltimore who she ― and much of the world ― never knew about: Her name was Henrietta Lacks, also known as the “mother of modern medicine,” and she was a black woman who produced the first immortal human cell line, known as HeLa, that has entirely revolutionized medical research.

“I worked in Baltimore as a young reporter from the time I was 22 to 30. I lived there, I went to church every Sunday,” Oprah said Tuesday at a press event with all black women reporters, including myself. “I am a student of the African American culture ... I have never, in all of my readings, in all of my stories, heard of HeLa or Henrietta Lacks. I could not believe that, how could I have been in this town all this time and never seen one thing about her?”

It wasn’t until Oprah read Rebecca Skloot’s New York Times best-selling biographical book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks that she learned of Lacks’ story and how she changed the world.  

“When I first read her story in 2010, I wanted to tell the story,” she said. And by “tell,” she meant giving the story the full-blown Oprah treatment and bringing it to life through film and her own magic touch. Because, after all, when Oprah stumbles across a good story, she shares it with the world.

“It is my nature to share everything,” she said. “I wanted as many people to know about the story as possible ... and so now you do.”

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” premieres Saturday on HBO, starring Winfrey as Deborah, Lacks’ daughter, who was desperate to learn more about her mother’s cells and how they have been used for medical research. The family had been unaware of the dealings of Lacks’ cells for decades because her name had been changed to Helen Lane in print. This effectively concealed Lacks’ identity and kept hidden from the family how her cells had been “taken, bought, sold and used in research without her knowledge or theirs,” according to Skloot’s book.

Skloot, a freelance science writer from Portland, Oregon, first learned of Lacks’ story in high school and was so moved by it that she pushed to make it more widely known through her book ― which took years of heavy research and the family’s cooperation to create. Skloot, who is portrayed in the film by actress Rose Byrne, tracked Deborah down, and together, the two went on a journey to discover what exactly had happened to Lacks’ cells. The experience also unveiled truths that allowed Deborah to learn more about herself and her heritage.

“The reason Deborah is taking the journey [with Rebecca] in the first place is because she really wants to know about her mother’s cells,” Oprah said. “The journey for her is to discover herself and by learning about her mother, she [did]. This relationship becomes her balm, her solace, her comfort.”

Oprah is remarkable in her role as she portrays Deborah’s perseverance and the pain she experienced for decades from not knowing more about her mother. Deborah wanted to dig into history to discover what exactly happened that day in 1951 when Lacks, who was a mother of five, entered Johns Hopkins Hospital. And Deborah demanded to know how it was possible that her cancer cells continued to live on despite the fact that they also led to her death later that same year.

Lacks was 31 when she first checked herself into the hospital for the excruciating pain she had been experiencing in her lower stomach. Doctors discovered that a cancerous tumor had been growing on her cervix at a terrifying rate. Researchers at the time were conducting studies to better understand the cancer and, though Lacks never gave doctors authorized permission, they removed two dime-sized pieces of tissue that were eventually used to successfully create the first immortal human cells ― those that could repeatedly replicate themselves outside of the body without ever dying. They came to be known as HeLa.

It was a fascinating discovery and one that shocked doctors, who knew that HeLa cells had potential to make way for a new world of possibilities in medicine. And they did. Over the decades, HeLa cells have led to countless medical breakthroughs ― they helped to create the first polio vaccine; have traveled to space for research on the impact zero gravity has on human cells; been used to identify abnormalities in chromosomes; helped in studying the mapping of the human genome; and aided in research of the human papillomavirus, commonly known as HPV, which causes the cervical cancer that killed Lacks.

To many, what happened to Lacks is perceived as a disturbing and unethical case. However, Tony-award winning actress Renee Goldsberry, who beautifully portrays Lacks in the film, believes she showed immense courage throughout her harrowing experience at Hopkins ― which, Goldsberry said, is a reminder of the bravery black women, like her own grandmother, express every day. 

“I love the bravery with which she moves through the biggest nightmare anyone can imagine, and that I think that informs me of the bravery my grandmother must have had,” Goldsberry told reporters Tuesday. “That’s what inspires, that’s what I want all of us to take from this, it’s to embrace the idea that these women were powerful. Not victims, they’re powerful.”

George C. Wolfe, the award-winning director who led this film, reinforced that message, saying that while it’s important to reflect on the painful parts of Lacks’ legacy, it’s also crucial that we examine what makes her story so empowering.

“When you speak about Jim Crow, it’s important to talk about the injustice of it but equally important is to talk about how the community fortified itself. Henrietta was part of that dynamic,” he said. “[She had] an incredible sense of responsibility and caring and needing and nurturing and therefore then the cells come along and they’re continuing to do the exact same thing.”  

“And one of the things that I love, really, really, conceptually love,” he continued, “is that on paper, you would look at Henrietta Lacks: She’s marginally educated, she’s a black woman in Jim Crow South, she has five children when she’s 31 ... you’d go: ‘Oh, [she has] no power.’ But in death, any time HeLa comes into contact with any other cell, they [show that they are] in charge ... that power of who she was just continues to live on.”

Any time HeLa comes into contact with any other cell, they [show that they are] in charge ... that power of who she was just continues to live on.” George C. Wolfe

It was Wolfe and his well-respected work in theater and film that ultimately convinced Oprah to play the protagonist Deborah in the movie, which she admitted was a challenging but rewarding role. She also credits her experiences in media for helping to mold her into the actress she is today.

“I’ve done a lot of healing being on the ‘Oprah’ show every day; it really was an effective space for me to learn a lot about myself, and life and people and dysfunction,” she said.

Like Oprah, Lacks’ influence in the world is uniquely powerful. And now, more people are able to learn of the real story behind the woman who, in a very special way, lived on even after her death. Sadly, as remarkable as both the book and the film are, Deborah never got to see them. She died in her sleep in 2009, mere months before the book’s release. But Oprah believes she now rests peacefully, knowing she did and gave all she could to have the world know the truth about her mother.

“I think that in the end, that’s what gave her a sense of peace and why she was able to leave the planet, because she knew it had been done,” Oprah said. “The real work that she came to do, the real work that she needed to resolve within herself, had been finished.”

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from Healthy Living - The Huffington Post http://huff.to/2oZEorG