This talk is long over due. I have been wanting to put down some thoughts on this for a while. Henrietta Lacks and her family have one of the unbelievable lives that just makes me think of the power and impact of life, even in sorrow.
This book was a quick read for me. Due mainly to the compelling circumstances of the Lacks family, the black side. I found myself wanting to continue reading just to find out what happened to them, and Henrietta. Even to the point where I would read through the parts about HeLa just to get back to the family.
At times this was a very difficult read. I couldn’t help but see my mother, or aunts when reading about Henrietta, or her daughter, Deborah, even her other daughter Elsie. Their fates were bad, to say the least. I would think of the ailments the women in my own life are facing. What can I do differently. Ignorance plagued the Lacks family for so long. If only they knew this, or that. So much exploitation, and lies. I eventually would get mad at them while reading, saying to myself “come on y’all don’t fall for that.”
The book skips between Henrietta’s story, the story of her cells and the researchers, and the story of her family and the author Rebecca Skloot. At certain parts these three stories would converge, particularly when the medical community wanted something from the Lacks family. I enjoyed.
I would get so angry reading about the ways the researchers would suppress or not be transparent with the Lacks family. It also made me sick reading about Deborah’s troubles as a child, thank God for Bobbette.
I definitely gained an awareness of the usefulness, and possible monetary gain medical professionals and researchers could get from our discarded tissue. The situation went from predatory, to somewhat predatory, to somewhat protected, to protected. But we must keep aware as new circumstances arise in this ever complex and interconnected world. I hope the Lacks family got some kind of monetary dues from the medical community.
As dark as this book was at times, it really filled me with hope. Reading about the family surviving after so many traumatic events occurring. Deboraa and Zakariyya particularly touched me, given their childhood trauma.
There is an underlying spirit within this reading. It is unnerving at times, like what happened at Henrietta’s funeral. However, at times that spirit was triumphant and warm, like when Rebecca and Deborah went to see Gary after finding out what happened to her sister. Another warming part was reading about the relationship between Deborah and her grandson Davon.
The book is definitely a must read.
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