The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – R. Skloot

And I continue with the nonfiction…Seriously, it’s time for some fiction.  But, I have to say, I really enjoyed The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

 

A quick summary: Henrietta Lacks was around thirty years old when she was diagnosed with cancer.  Without her knowledge or consent, some of her cells were taken by the doctors for research purposes.  Henrietta died, but her cells (now known as HeLa cells) kept on living and multiplying and being used for research.  Her family had no idea this was going on and only found out years later. 

I learned so much from this book.  First of all, I learned about HeLa cells and how they have helped science and humanity.  I learned about the history of informed consent and why it is necessary, and I learned about the debate surrounding tissue/cell research.  But most importantly, I learned about a family trying to understand what happened to their mother, how they were affected, and how everyone found a way to cope.

I think this quote that the author includes right at the beginning of the book was very appropriate: “We must not see any person as an abstraction.  Instead, we must see in every person a universe with its own secrets, with its own treasures, with its own sources of anguish, and with some measure of triumph.” (Elie Wiesel, from The Nazi Doctors and the Nuremberg Code).  Sometimes we think of HeLa cells and their benefits to science and research, and forget that HeLa was Henrietta, an individual, someone with a family that still mourns her.   

This is definitely a book I would recommend!