Deborah "Dale" Lacks Timeline and Summary

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• Deborah's voice opens the book as she explains her purpose in working with Skloot.
• She receives the first call from Skloot and gives the reporter plenty of information and a promise to talk again soon. But she doesn't.
• We learn some of Deborah's backstory: she went to live with her brother Lawrence and wife, Bobbette sometime after Henrietta's death.
• Deborah was molested continuously by cousin Galen. She tells Bobbette about it.
• Deborah gets pregnant by her boyfriend Alfred when she is 16. Bobbette makes her stay in school.
• She marries Alfred when she turns 18, but has to leave the abusive marriage after a second child is born.
• Deborah has her blood drawn by Hsu and learns of the existence of HeLa cells. She thinks the blood is for a cancer test.
• She goes to McKusick's office to give more blood; he gives her a book on genetics by way of an explanation of HeLa cells.
• Deborah marries James Pullum.
• She participates in Adam Curtis' BBC documentary on her mother's contribution of HeLa cells and gives a speech at a Morehouse conference organized by Roland Pattillo.
• Deborah fights with Courtney Speed and Barbara Wyche over the establishment of a Henrietta Lacks health history museum in Turner Station.
• Con man Cofield convinces Deborah to let him sue Hopkins on the family's behalf.
• After denying Cofield access to her mother's medical records, Deborah requests them for herself.
• Deborah is assaulted at work and withdraws to the safety of her house. She tries unsuccessfully to get Elsie's records from Crownsville.
• She meets Skloot for the first time at a B&B in Baltimore and Deborah receives the gift from Lengauer.
• Deborah, Skloot and Zakariyya travel to Lengauer's lab at Hopkins to see HeLa cells for the first time.
• She and Skloot travel to Crownsville to learn about Elsie. Deborah is devastated by what she learns.
• Deborah becomes very ill and has to return home. She ultimately suffers a stroke brought on by anxiety (and high blood pressure).
• She leaves her husband James.
• Deborah dies of a heart attack in 2009, just after Mother's Day.