Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and more. Henrietta’s cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can’t afford health insurance.
From author Rebecca Skloot's website. I can't sum the text much better than this.
HeLa cells are vigorous, beautiful. And immortal. For medical researchers, they will divide an infinite number of times, and lack the delicacy of other cells. HeLa has, and will continue to save countless lives. Yet, the woman responsible deserves illumination. Her life deserves celebration. Henrietta was more than a carrier of immortal cells. She was a woman with an incredible life, from her bright smile to her red toenails.
In 1999 the RAND Corporation estimated that American labs alone held more than 307 million tissue samples from some 178 million people. (NYT)
What makes Skloot's work so remarkable is the perfect infusion of culture, science, religion, ethics, class, gender and race. She writes the most full account of HeLa, and the woman behind the cells, without doing any of these topics a disservice. Years after Henrietta's agonizing, painful death in the colored ward of Johns Hopkins, her cells were curing disease and floating in outer space.
Skloot's work is difficult to read, not because of the science she invokes--and does so quite well, as I'm more versed in physics than biology--but due to the painful humanity of the Lack's family. It takes Skloot years to gain the trust of Henrietta's family, and the journey she, and Henrietta's daughter Deborah, embark on together once that trust is established, is amazing, tragic, and beautiful.
So, readers and book lovers: what are your favorite reads about ethics, medicine, or biology? What books do you enjoy that weave the personal and scientific together like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks?