Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.
Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.
Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia—a land of wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo—to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells.
Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family—past and present—is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.
Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family—especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah, who was devastated to learn about her mother’s cells. She was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Did it hurt her when researchers infected her cells with viruses and shot them into space? What happened to her sister, Elsie, who died in a mental institution at the age of fifteen? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance?
Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences.
I've heard about the HeLa cell line, used in biological studies for years. It was touted as immortal and very important as a means to use human cells to study drugs, disease, in fact all manner of medical and biological study. I can remember wondering where it came from but never knowing the details.
This book answers this question. Henrietta Lacks was a poor African-American woman born in the south. She lived in Baltimore and sought medical care at John Hopkins which at the time was segregated. The book discusses the circumstances under which the cells were collected, the ways the cells were used, and how this affected her family. Unfortunately it is also the story of racism and how the rich and powerful prey upon the ignorant and poor.
It is an interesting book for all those who like biological and medical sciences and I would recommend it to them
writes,
Henrietta Lacks is a miracle: she helped find numerous vaccines and enabled the research and/or discovery of some of medical sciences most devastating diseases and viruses...and she did it all after a fatal bout with cervical cancer. It was not actually her who did all this, but rather her cells, HeLa. Very strange, but also very intriguing.
Henrietta's cancer cells were taken from her body during treatment and harvested (and still are even today) for medical research. She did not know, and neither did her family. Rapidly HeLa mass produced itself and appeared to be immortal. This was a miracle to science. Interest in the human story behind this scientific phenomenon was not as quick to develop. Years of disinterest or misinformation kept the truth from Henrietta's family and the world. And when they eventually found out, their lives were changed forever.
Rebecca Skloot takes readers through the life of Henrietta Lacks, well beyond her body's lifespan. We go to Clover, Turner's Station, and John Hopkins to know her better. We learn of her children, their children, and eventually their children. But also in this history is that of scientific progress. Skloot weaves the human interest story of the Lackses with the evolution of a dicey history of research, DNA, chromosomes, cells and all other intricate science.
Skloot is a wonderful writer, with the ability to break down dense scientific jargon and make even the most reluctant science student understand. Her compassion and honesty are beautiful. And the story as a whole is fascinating, inspiring, and heartbreaking. This is truly an amazing book that makes you question the essence of humanity, communal good, ethics, and it may even make you question your beliefs (especially those of us who thought we were hardened, practical skeptics). Do not pass this book up, it is a treasure. I could not recommend this book more.
writes,
This is a amazing true tale of a poor black woman in the '50's that found herself sick. She went to John Hopkins hospital and was examined, and they found a growth on her uterus like Henrietta told them about.
The doctor did what they could in treatment options of those days, and also took two samples of the cells on her uterus.
These cell began to grow in the petri dishes and cultures and the rest is history.
This book is rich in history and pain the Lacks' have gone through to get truth told about thier mother.
This book was very well researched but also personal and engaging. Not a dry history lesson for certain. I really liked this book and could not put it down.
I hope this book sells like hot cakes and gives the Lack family and the author some monitary gain for the future.
