Day 9: "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks"

Today, I am thankful for this month's book club selection: Rebecca Skloot's "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks." Before reading the book, I had never heard of Henrietta or HeLa, the cells which changed science forever. Below is a short synopsis from Amazon.com:

"From a single, abbreviated life grew a seemingly immortal line of cells that made some of the most crucial innovations in modern science possible. And from that same life, and those cells, Rebecca Skloot has fashioned in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks a fascinating and moving story of medicine and family, of how life is sustained in laboratories and in memory. Henrietta Lacks was a mother of five in Baltimore, a poor African American migrant from the tobacco farms of Virginia, who died from a cruelly aggressive cancer at the age of 30 in 1951. A sample of her cancerous tissue, taken without her knowledge or consent, as was the custom then, turned out to provide one of the holy grails of mid-century biology: human cells that could survive--even thrive--in the lab. Known as HeLa cells, their stunning potency gave scientists a building block for countless breakthroughs, beginning with the cure for polio. Meanwhile, Henrietta's family continued to live in poverty and frequently poor health, and their discovery decades later of her unknowing contribution--and her cells' strange survival--left them full of pride, anger, and suspicion. For a decade, Skloot doggedly but compassionately gathered the threads of these stories, slowly gaining the trust of the family while helping them learn the truth about Henrietta, and with their aid she tells a rich and haunting story that asks the questions, Who owns our bodies? And who carries our memories?"



This book really made me think about medical testing legalities, cell preservation, and what is owed for a family member's contributions to science.  What should a doctor or hospital do with a removed appendix or tumor?  How acceptable is it to perform research on blood or tissue not needed for testing?  "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" is a great non-fiction book.

Reading the book also made me think about starting another project...a book review blog.  I read a lot of books (approximately 400 in the past 2.5 years...no wonder I don't have a significant other), I'm a member of 2 book clubs, I'm not a horrible writer (I don't think), and I would love to pass along my recommendations to friends, family, and whoever else wants to hear my opinions.  I'm not exactly sure how I will proceed with the idea, but it's definitely percolating in my mind now :)