Dear
Book Club Members,
Delicious
strawberry salads and tomato mozzarella salads were devoured before our
official “Women of Wisdom April Book Club Meeting held at the Hardwood
Café. Members attending were Tammy, Ginnie, Chris, Barbara K., Lori,
Jodi, Becky and our soon to be Grandma, Cheryl. We were all excited to
hear the wonderful news and Greg’s tearful reaction to becoming
grandparents. We are so happy for both of you.
Our April read, the nonfiction work, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by
Rebecca Skloot spurred much discussion. This fascinating book of medical
research and a deeply human and humane look at both Henrietta and her
descendants is the real achievement in Rebecca Skloot’s work. I would define “The
Immortal Life…” as a juxtaposition of medical and scientific
research of highly advanced technology and the suffering of a human being, with
the people who love her. I was impressed with the grace with which
Rebecca handled this delicate subject and the humane dignity she afforded to
Henrietta and her family. At sixteen, Rebecca was introduced to Henrietta
in her biology class when her instructor mentioned her name and her skin color
but nothing else. Rebecca’s mature insight and curiosity into who Henrietta was
and what became of her was Skloot’s incentive for a thoughtful and
courageous ten - year research to write her first book with the trust and
blessing of the Lacks family I am reminded of The Help by
Kathryn Stockett and her poignant approach to the black maids of Jackson,
Mississippi. It is never too young or too old to challenge your thought
process. Kudos to Skloot.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells the story of many
things: cancer, racism, medical ethics, the effects of poverty on medical
care and most of all, the story behind the prolific “HeLa cells and the real
person and her family who unknowingly donated them-Henrietta Lacks.
Henrietta is described by her cousin, Emmett Lacks, as “the sweetest girl you
ever wanna meet, and prettier than anything” and that is how Henrietta comes to
life in the pages of Skoot’s book. She is the great-great-granddaughter of
slaves who began her life in a poverty-stricken tobacco farm in Clover,
Virginia. Full of fun and fun to be around said those who knew her, a lovely
woman with “walnut eyes, straight white teeth and full lips”.
In 1951, the only place a black person could be treated in Baltimore, Maryland
was Johns Hopkins where Henrietta checked into their charity ward with a
painful “knot in my womb” which was promptly diagnosed as cervical
cancer. She was given painful radium treatments, only before the first
was administered, the attending physician, without asking permission from Mrs.
Lacks and without informing her, cut two dime-sized pieces of tissue from
Lacks’ cervix, one healthy and one cancerous. Protocol dictated the donor’s
name be written on the tubes of cells which were named “HeLa for her first and
last name. George Gey, a scientist trying to establish continuously reproducing
human cell line, was given the cells by the attending physician. Later these
cells were determined to contain an enzyme capable of dividing and multiplying
forever, thus rendering them “immortal”! Today, sixty years after her
death, Henrietta’s tissue has yielded approximately fifty million metric tones
of “HeLa” cells.
Researchers, medical students and scientists around the world recognize “HeLa”
cells but very few have ever heard of the woman who donated them, taking for
granted that these cells came from a “live woman.”
However, the centerpiece role of the book goes not to Henrietta, but to her
daughter, Deborah. She is a loving, tough, sweet, vulnerable generous
woman whose curiosity about her mother and her older sister, Elsie (who was
born deaf, mute and possible retarded and lived in the Hospital for the Negro
Insane) drove her to an emotional breakdown. Deborah is a faithful and
forgiving person not letting her anger at science get in the way of helping
others.
The most moving scene in the book for me involves Deborah and a kind-hearted,
Austrian researcher at Johns Hopkins name Christoph Lengauer. Deborah and
Zakariyya, her brother, were taken to the freezer room where he showed them
their mother’s cells. Later they would look at them alive under a
microscope. They walked into a “room filled with wall-to-wall white freezers
stacked one on top of the other rumbling like a sea of washing machines in an
industrial laundromat.” As the freezer opened with a hiss and releasing a cloud
of steam Deborah screamed and jumped behind Zakariyya. It was all full of
Henrietta’s cells. “Oh God, she gasped, “I can’t believe all that’s my
mother.” Christoph reached in and took out a vial with H-e-L-a written on
its side. “She’s cold” Deborah said, cupping her hands and blowing onto
the vial. “You’re famous,” she whispered. “Just nobody know it.”
After putting some of the cells under a microscope Deborah “ stood mesmerized,
watching one of her mother’s cells divide in two, just as they’d done when
Henrietta was an embryo in her mother’s womb.” “How come they ain’t black even
though she was black?” “Under a microscope, cells don’t have a color,”
Christoph told Zakariyya. “They’re beautiful,” Henrietta whispered. “John
Hopkin is a school for learning, and that’s important. But this is my
mother, nobody seem to get that.” God did create us all equal.
Many difficult questions are raised concerning medical practices and bioethics
and informed consent after reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta
Lacks. What happened to Henrietta makes readers feel outrage and
sympathy for the poverty in which her descendants now live. Johns Hopkins and
other research facilities that work with HeLa cells have committed no
crimes. As the author notes, it is still not necessary to obtain a
patients consent to store cells and tissue taken from them in diagnostic
procedures then later use the tissue for research. I found much of the
scientific information equally as compelling although the human story for me
was the most enlightening. I find myself conflicted with the importantance and
advances of science to the general welfare of society contrasted with the moral
ethics. I love the mental challenge of this book which raises more
questions than answers in my mind. I rank it in my Top Ten.
What is your view?
While enjoying our wonderful salads, and the fabulous weather of the evening,
we decided for our summer meetings we would try to meet “outdoors”.
The patio at the Saxonburg Hotel as well as picnic at Moraine State Park were
suggested so be thinking of a place we could meet and anticipate the lovely
approaching outdoor summer meetings ahead. However, our next meeting will
be Wednesday, May 22nd, 6:30 at Panera Bread. We will be
discussing The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adrianna Trigiani, the talented
author of several books our club as read, Lucia, Lucia and Big Stone
Gap.
Looking ahead: Also, remember
our June book club will coincide with the Butler Symphony Garden Tour, so
the date for our meeting will be Saturday, June 15th.
The cost of ticket is $15 in advance or $20 the day of tour.
Hope to see you there,
Sincerely,
Becky
P.S. Attached is the
chart I made comparing Julia Child and Anne Lindbergh
Dear Book Club Members,
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