A couple of months ago, I was scanning through new releases on Amazon.com to see what was coming out when a title caught my attention. My paternal grandmother was adopted as a toddler, her birth name had been Henrietta Lester, so when I saw the title of the book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" it caught my attention. Like most people, I had never heard of Henrietta Lacks and the impact she has had on all of our lives. After reading the summary of the book, I found it hard to believe it could be true and I wanted to read the whole story. I am so glad that I did.
Henrietta Lacks was a 31 year old mother of five when she died a horrific death from an aggressive form of cervical cancer. A sample of her tumor was removed and sent to a lab without her knowledge or consent, which was common practice at the time. For the first time in medical history, human cells continued to live and grow in the lab after being removed from the body, they were "immortal". These cells became known as the HeLa cells, the name taken from the first two letters of her first and last names. The cells were sold to doctors and labs all over the world and were used in the creation of Jonas Salk's polio vaccine and every medical breakthrough since 1951. Drugs that treat AIDS and cancer were discovered using Henrietta's cells, or rather the cells that grew from the original sample taken from her. Her cells were sent into space for testing, they were used in researching gene mapping, and every other significant scientific research done in the past 59 years. It is almost overwhelming to think of all that has been achieved and discovered because of this one woman.
But there is so much more to Henrietta Lacks than just her cells. She was a devoted mother of five children, one of whom was born while the cancer was growing inside her. She is remembered very fondly by her extended family and friends as a caring woman who looked out for them, fed them, and always left the door open. She loved to dance and laugh.
"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot is an important story to tell and a book everyone should read. There is not a person alive today who doesn't owe Henrietta a debt of thanks and yet her story was a barely mentioned footnote in scientific history. Her cells were taken and her family didn't know until almost 20 years later when researchers started calling to ask about her. Millions of dollars were made off the sale of Henrietta's cells and her family never saw a dime. They struggled to survive in a poor community.
And yet they did survive.
Rebecca Skloot's book tells the story of Henrietta's cells and their lasting effects on science and medicine, but it also tells the story of Henrietta and her family. While I found the science aspects fascinating, I enjoyed the stories of her family even more. It wasn't always pretty, there was abuse, death, anger, jail time, murder, teenage pregnancy, and mental illness. Henrietta's oldest daughter, Elsie, had mental problems and ended up at a hospital where, many years after she died, the Lacks family learned she had endured horrific experiments and abuse. After Henrietta's death, her 3 youngest children were sent to live with her sister who mistreated them. Luckily, her oldest son, Lawrence married Bobette Cooper after his stint in the military. Bobbette demanded they take in Lawrence's siblings and raise them, which ended up being the best thing to happen to those children. She offered the support and strength those children needed. Bobbette believed in education and made sure Deborah, Henrietta's younger daughter, finished school even though she became pregnant as a teenager.
"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" was a labor of love for Rebecca Skloot. She spent years researching and, through persistence, was able to get in touch with Henrietta's children. Ms. Skloot worked closely with Deborah, Henrietta's surviving daughter, and was able to learn even more about her family.
I went to my first book club meeting for this book and I'm glad I did. It's really amazing to me how so many people can see one book in so many different ways.
When I read "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" I was impressed with her family's survival and strong faith.
They were poor, while their mother's cells were sold for millions. They had health problems, while their mother's cells helped treat and/or cure just about every medical problem known. For many years, the Lacks family was left in the dark about Henrietta and what her cells meant to the medical and scientific communities. There was a lot of confusion, no one had taken the time to explain just what had happened and why. Rebeeca Skloot was the first person to take that time to tell them everything, to explain what happened, to define cells and what they do and how they are used in research. Deborah wanted to learn more, so she went out and got medical books and a dictionary. I think that was my favorite part of the story. There was a lot of anger in the Lacks family, understandably. They were angry because they felt they had been misled and used, they were angry because Henrietta didn't get the recognition they believe she deserved, and I have to agree with them. Their anger was justified. But Deborah didn't sit around and give into her anger, she educated herself. She read and asked questions, she went along with the author to learn more about her sister, Elsie, and her mother.
While some people in my book club felt sorry for Deborah, I felt proud of her. She took control of what she wanted to know and I think that's wonderful. One of the women in the club actually told me that she was impressed with how I thought more about the people, the Lacks family, than I did about the money they didn't get. I was grateful that she saw that. Because this book is a story about people, it's not just about cells and money changing hands, it's about a family.
There was one gentleman in my book club who was a very proud, very left liberal. He would make broad sweeping statements that either had nothing to do with the book or that seemed to be more about pushing forth his political agenda than a discussion of the book. One of the things he brought up was if we thought the author, Rebecca Skloot, had just written this for the money and had she made a lot from this book. I told him I got the impression she wrote this book to learn more about Henrietta Lacks and to share her story with the world and I that hope she makes a ton of money. I, personally, have no problem with people who have a lot of money, good for them. I'm not jealous and I don't believe money is evil. Ms. Skloot tells in the book how she used her own money, her own credit cards to fund her research and travel costs. She spent years working on this book and because of it, she not only shared an important aspect of medical history with the world, but she also shared the story of the woman behind the cells. And I am so glad she did. The world will be a better place if more people knew about Henrietta Lacks and I wholeheartedly believe Rebecca Skloot deserves to be rewarded for bringing the whole story to the public.
I work for a local news station. Back in April of this year, we did a story on how the Penn State Hershey Medical Center had a historical marker placed on their campus to commemorate the perfecting of a technique for propagating HPV (the human papillomavirus) by Penn State College of Medicine researchers led by the late Dr. Mary K. Howett and Dr. John W. Kreider. My first thought was, This was possible because of Henrietta Lacks. Just last week, we did a story on the importance of vaccines. Again, I thought This was possible because of Henrietta Lacks.
I can't help but think that if more people had that thought when they heard of a medical breakthrough, it would mean more to the Lacks family than any amount of money.
I urge everyone I know to read this book. Whenever someone asks me to recommend a book, I suggest "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks". This is a woman everyone should know. We all owe a debt of thanks to Henrietta Lacks.
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