Tracey put me on to this amazing book and I'm so glad I read it. (Note: I do not enjoy every book I read, nor do I finish all of them. I used to force myself to, but not anymore. So I don't mention the ones I didn't care for, lest you think I'm not picky and will read anything and love everything.)
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot, is the true story of the black woman in the 50's who unknowingly "gave" some of her cancerous cervical cells to science, which became the famous HeLa cells, and changed the face of medicine. Her cells have been used in the polio vaccine, shot into space, blown up in nuclear bombs, led to IVF, and many, many other breakthroughs. But for many years, her family had no idea what was being done. And the world didn't know the story of HeLa, and Henrietta Lacks' life. Skloot has taken a decade to research and interview anyone and everyone involved, and has written a touching story of great importance. Her story covers four areas: what we know of Henrietta's life and death (a beautiful story in and of itself), her cells' contribution to science, her family's struggle with finding out decades later, and the author's own journey to gather all of this information. I think this is a very important book for anyone to read, especially women.
In the first half, when the author tells us about Henrietta's life of love and service, and her awful spiral into death by cancer in the early 50's, I found myself very attached and emotional. Cancer is a terrible thing. And since our own lives have been impacted by IVF lately, I am so grateful for the work done by science and these cells to help us all.
1 comment:
Tina has read this book and also highly recommends it. She says its touching and also amazing for its science breakthroughs. Now that you also recommend it, I need to get my hands on a copy.
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