The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Posted on 09 July 2018 by Rebecca Skloot

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells taken without her knowledge became one of the most important tools in medicine The first immortal human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for than sixty years If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they d weigh than 50 million metric tons as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb s effects helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping and have been bought and sold by the billions.Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the colored ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells from Henrietta s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia a land of wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo to East Balti today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells.Henrietta s family did not learn of her immortality until than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent And though the cells had launched a multimillion dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family past and present is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family especially Henrietta s daughter Deborah, who was devastated to learn about her mother s cells She was consumed with questions Had scientists cloned her mother Did it hurt her when researchers infected her cells with viruses and shot them into space What happened to her sister, Elsie, who died in a mental institution at the age of fifteen And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn t her children afford health insurance Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences. Best Read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr The doorbell rang the other day and when I answered it, there was a very slick guy in a nice suit standing there and a limousine parked at the curb He started shaking my hand and wormed his way into the house Mr Kemper, I m John Doe with Dee Bag Industries Incorporated I need you to sign some paperwork and take a ride with me Don t worry, I ll have you home in a day or two, he said Then he pulled a document out of his briefcase, set it on the coffee table and pushed a pen in my hand The doorbell rang the other day and when I answered it, there was a very slick guy in a nice suit standing there and a limousine parked at the curb He started shaking my hand and wormed his way into the house Mr Kemper, I m John Doe with Dee Bag Industries Incorporated I need you to sign some paperwork and take a ride with me Don t worry, I ll have you home in a day or two, he said Then he pulled a document out of his briefcase, set it on the coffee table and pushed a pen in my hand Wait a second What the hell is this all about I said as I tried to pick up the paper to read it, but Doe kept trying to force my hand with the pen down on it so I couldn t see what it said Oh, that s just legal mumbo jumbo You d rather try and read your mortgage agreement than this old thing Just put your name down and let s be on our way, shall we he said.There was a brief scu...This is an all gold five star read.It s actually two stories, the story of the HeLa cells and the story of the Lacks family told by a journalist who writes the first story objectively and the second, in which she is involved, subjectively The contrast between the poor Lacks family who cannot afford their medical bills and the research establishment who have made millions, maybe billions from these cells is ironic and tragic It has been established by other law cases that if the family had gone This is an all gold five star read.It s actually two stories, the story of the HeLa cells and the story of the Lacks family told by a journalist who writes the first story objectively and the second, in which she is involved, subjectively The contrast between the poor Lacks family who cannot afford their medical bills and the research establishment who have made millions, maybe billions from these cells is ironic and tragic It has been established by other law cases that if the family had gone for restitution they would not have got it, but that s a moot point as they couldn t afford a lawyer in any case I have seen some bad reviews about this book People who think that the story of the Lacks poor rural African Americans who never made it up from slavery and whose lifestyle of decent...She s the most important person in the world and her family living in poverty If our mother is so important to science, why can t we get health insuranceI ve moved this book on and off my TBR for years The truth is that, with few exceptions, I m generally turned off by the thought of non fiction I m a fan of fictional stories, and I think I ve always felt that non fiction will be dry, boring and difficult to get through Especially a book about science, cells and medicine when I m She s the most important person in the world and her family living in poverty If our mother is so important to science, why can t we get health insuranceI ve moved this book on and off my TBR for years The truth is that, with few exceptions, I m generally turned off by the thought of non fiction I m a fan of fictional stories, and I think I ve always felt that non fiction will be dry, boring and difficult to get through Especially a book about science, cells and medicine when I mof a humanities social sciences kinda girl.But this book it s just so interest...On October 4, 1951, Henrietta Lacks, a thirty one year old black woman, died after a gruesome battle with a rapidly metastasizing cancer During her treatment, the doctors at Johns Hopkins took some cells from her failing body and used them for research This was not an unusual thing to have done in 1951 But the cells that came from Ms Lacks body were unusual They had qualities that made them uniquely valuable as research tools Labeled HeLa , Henrietta s cells were reproduced by the On October 4, 1951, Henrietta Lacks, a thirty one year old black woman, died after a gruesome battle with a rapidly metastasizing cancer During her treatment, the doctors at Johns Hopkins took some cells from her failing body and used them for research This was not an unusual thing to have done in 1951 But the cells that came from Ms ...Fascinating and Thought Provoking Strengths Fantastically interesting subject One woman s cancerous cells are multiplied and distributed around the globe enabling a new era of cellular research and fueling incredible advances in scientific methodology, technology, and medical treatments This strain of cells, named HeLa after Henrietta Lacks their originator , has been amazingly prolific and has become integrated into advancements of science around the world space travel, genome research, Fascinating and Thought Provoking Strengths Fantastically interesting subject On...4.5 stars A young black mother dies of cervical cancer in 1950 and unbeknownst to her becomes the impetus for many medical advances through the decades that follow because of the cancer cells that were taken without her permission This book evokes so many thoughts and feelings, sometimes at odds with one another It is thought provoking and informative in the details and heartbreaking in the rendering of the personal story of Henrietta Lacks I was madder than hell that people companies made 4.5 stars A young black mother dies of cervical cancer in 1950 and unbeknownst to her becomes the impetus for many medical advances through the decades that follow because of the cancer cells that were taken without her permission This book evokes so many thoughts and feelings, sometimes at odds with one another It is thought provoking and informative in the details and heartbreaking in the rendering of the personal story of Henrietta Lacks I was madder than hell that people companies made loads of m...This could have been an incredible book Henrietta Lacks story is finally told and Skloot makes very clear how important Lacks cells have been to the last 60 years of science and, paradoxically, how much Henrietta and her family suffered because those cells were taken from Henrietta without her consent But in her effort to contrast the importance and profitability of Henrietta s cells with the marginalization and impoverishment of Henrietta s family, Skloot makes three really big mistakes This could have been an incredible book Henrietta Lacks story is finally told and Skloot makes very clear how important Lacks cells have been to the last 60 years of science and, paradoxically, how much Henrietta and her family suffered because those cells were...This is a very powerful and informative story Also, with the history of personal freedoms, civil rights, and right to privacy requiring consent, this is a very important books I am not sure the details about the science involved in the story will appeal to all Just the same as how those who are here f...This is such an important story HeLa cells were a miracle to humanity and all thanks to Hernietta Lacks and the doctor.It is a must read.My thoughts on this book are kind of all over the place I feel for the Lacks family, I really do It s hard to read about the poverty and lack of education and the cavalier approach towards informed consent in the early days of Johns Hopkins Research Hospital The fact that the HeLa cell line is the foundation of so much valuable research is rightfully a source of pride for the family of Henrietta Lacks I don t think they will ever see monetary compensation for their mother s cancer cell line, My thoughts on...

English
09 July 2018

Rebecca Skloot