I just finished one of the most thought-provoking pieces of non-fiction that I've ever read. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells the story of an African-American woman who, dying of cervical cancer at the untimely age of 31 in 1951, unknowingly had a biopsy taken from the tumor growing inside of her.
The cells from this tumor would eventually become the immortal HeLa cell line, used by doctors and scientists worldwide for biomedical research. The HeLa cells made it possible for researchers to delve into a wide range of scientific pursuits, including - but definitely not limited to - research into AIDS, cancer, gene mapping, the effects of radiation, and ultimately the creation of the polio vaccine. Today, more than 11,000 medical patents exist as a result of HeLa research.
Despite the numerous medical achievements made possible by the HeLa cell line, Henrietta Lacks' family has never received any monetary compensation from those individuals, hospitals, and corporations who utilized her cells. Instead, the Lacks family has lived in poverty for generations. As the book progresses, we get a detailed glimpse into the histories of both the HeLa cell line and the Lacks family. The book takes a bold look at ethical issues of race and class with regard to medical research and how policies have (and in some cases, have not) changed over time. The author of the book, Rebecca Skloot, does an amazing job recounting the facts, explaining scientific processes in layman's terms, and - most importantly - humanizing Henrietta Lacks by showing the reader who she was as a person and not just the unwitting object she became after her death.
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