Imagine, you have been around the world. You traveled to outer space. You helped develop the polio vaccine. You have been cloned a countless number of times. You gave a first person account on the effects of the atomic bomb. And you accomplished all of this after you died.
This is one of many intriguing themes in the biography of an unknown woman, Henrietta Lacks, who posthumously affected the history of the world. The books welds together science, ethics, history and faith, all together in story of a family, trying to discover, Who is Henrietta Lacks?
Henrietta Lacks was a poor black woman, who went to John Hopkins Hospital with complaints of severe pain in her abdomen. The cause for her pain was discovered to be cervical cancer. When doctors could not treat the cancer, Henrietta died. Yet pieces of her tumor that where removed without her consent continued not only to live but grow.
While a few opportunistic personalities, profited off of the reproduction and distribution of Henrietta’s cells, her family lived penniless and unaware of Henrietta’s second life.
The story follows the author and Henrietta’s youngest daughter, who embark on detective journey, to find out who Henrietta Lacks was, and what was happening to her cells. A great story that is bolstered by the fact that it is true.
