gregfielder 's review for:

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

4.0

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In the early 1950′s, a poor, black woman from Virginia was treated for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins. While she died after a brief treatment, doctors there took a tissue sample from her cervix, which, over time, continued to reproduce and live while other such cell lines would eventually die. Since that time, these cells (known as HeLa) have been instumental in all types of medical research and breakthroughs, including cancer, AIDS/HIV, and the polio vaccine. Skloot tells the story of both Henrietta – her life, her family’s life since (her children didn’t even know that her cells were still alive until nearly 20 years later) – as well as the story of her cells and the medical and scientific discoveries which they aided. A fascinating, true story.