Fascinating, True Story Of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot was my first venture into ebook reading. I already had a print copy from our high school library, but I decided to download it onto my iPad for free from the Ocean State Libraries EZone at http://riezone.lib.overdrive.com.

No one was more surprised than me to find out that I loved the electronic format! I could make the text larger with a push of my finger, I could read it in poor lighting conditions and it felt light and right in my hands! I will definitely go back for more free ebooks, but you should be warned that there is a long wait for the popular books as the library is limited to a certain number of licensed electronic copies per title.

I’ll admit, I was a bit reluctant to read this thick work of scientific non-fiction, but not wanting to fail book club, I persevered. I found it full of fascinating science and unforgettable real characters. So just who was Henrietta Lacks and what is her story?

Henrietta Lacks’ short life ended in 1951 when she was only 30 years old. A young black mother of five, Henrietta died a very painful death from an aggressive form of cervical cancer at John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Her body was then sent home to Clover, Virginia, where she was buried in an unmarked grave.

This would have been the end of her story, but unbeknownst to her, sample cells from her cervix were sent to a medical researcher who was routinely screening hundreds of cells, searching for some that could live long enough to be used for experiments. What he got was HeLa, the world’s first immortal human cells. Henrietta’s cells multiplied like none ever seen before in the medical world. HeLa cells are so prolific that today they would wrap around the world three times!

HeLa cells are one of the greatest medical discoveries of our time and have made possible most (some people say all!) of the important medical advances that have occurred since 1951. The polio vaccine, chemotherapy, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and numerous cancer medicines are just some of the advances we owe to the HeLa cells.

When author Rebecca Skloot first found out about HeLa, she was struck by the fact that no one knew anything about the cell donor beyond her name and her race. Skloot embarked on a 10-year journey to find out more about her, and what she got was a fascinating story that is as much about racism, ignorance, exploitation, social history and family as it is about science. She found that even though Henrietta’s cells have led to major breakthroughs in science and have sustained multimillion-dollar research industries, she never gave permission for their use and her family was completely unaware of what HeLa cells were giving to the world.

Though everyone living today has benefitted in some way from Henrietta’s cells, Skloot found that Henrietta’s children were unable to afford the most basic health care. Skloot found Henrietta’s children to be at times resentful, paranoid, distrustful and superstitious, but she eventually earned their begrudging trust and is able to tell their story in a beautifully written nonjudgmental way. The book reads more like a novel though it is all true.

Skloot has even set up a foundation where some of the proceeds from the book and her lectures are helping to pay for education and medical expenses for the Lacks family. She has succeeded  in making Henrietta Lacks, the person, as immortal as her cells.

Download the movie