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Nov 30, 2018IndyPL_SteveB rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
In 1951, Henrietta Lacks, a poor African American mother from Virginia, died of cervical cancer. An unremarkable occurrence, perhaps, except that before her death, doctors took samples of her tumor and made them the first successful culture of human cells, a line of cells now known as HeLa. Her cells have continued to reproduce ever since, in the number of uncounted billions, in research labs all over the world. The research done on these cells have saved millions of lives – yet her family did not find out about these cells for 20 years and never received a dollar of compensation. In a remarkably moving account, the author contrasts the amazing success of the HeLa cells with the decades-long agony of the Lacks family. The author forces us to ask uncomfortable questions about the nature of medical research and who owns our cells and DNA. But she also explores the very human story of an impoverished, uneducated family thrust into the limelight, not knowing whom to trust. The author became an unofficial member of the Lacks family in the years she spent developing this story. Winner of several awards as best science or medical book of the year and an amazing combination of science and personal history.