THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS by Rebecca Skloot is part examination of the HeLa cell, a cell taken from (not donated by) Henrietta Lacks when she was being treated at Johns Hopkins for cervical cancer. The other part of this book tells the story of Henrietta and her family, both before and after her death.

During the 1950s Henrietta Lacks had a two-timing husband, five children, and several medical problems that she left untreated, including syphilis. When she learned she had cervical cancer, she also ignored that for as long as she could but eventually went to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she could receive free treatment.

Shortly before Henrietta died, Johns Hopkins took a tissue sample from her cervix. As was routine and perfectly legal in the 1950s and for many years later, no one asked for her or her family’s permission. And no one acknowledged her for her “donation” when the resulting HeLa cell made possible so much medical research and discoveries.

I should mention that Henrietta was black because that fact has everything to do with her children’s reactions years later.

Because the HeLa cell could live indefinitely, which other cells could not, HeLa was reproduced in large quantities. Johns Hopkins gave the HeLa cell to just about anyone who asked all over the world at no cost.

As a result, medical research was advanced, but for years Henrietta’s family was never aware of any of it. No one was deliberately hiding anything from them; but no one felt it necessary to tell them. The first the family heard of it was when Johns Hopkins wanted to test their blood 20 years later. And there began the first of many, many misunderstandings.

Day, Henrietta’s husband, got the call but understood that they wanted to get blood samples from Henrietta’s children to test them for cancer. So they all gave blood samples, then became angry when they were never given results of the “tests.”

The Lacks family was angry with Johns Hopkins Hospital and University and the researchers working with HeLa cells for more than 30 years for various reasons, all misunderstandings. And they most often didn’t change their minds, even when told otherwise.

The author of THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS, Rebecca Skloot, had the patience of a saint! She gave up years of her time in pursuit of information for this book, much of it wasted because of the family’s misunderstandings. And even when things appeared to be going well, a family member might suddenly mistrust her, again as a result of a misunderstanding (that she was working for Johns Hopkins, who they also mistrusted as a result of misunderstanding). Once, one of Henrietta’s children, Deborah, even went so far as to physically attack Skloot because of a (you guessed it) misunderstanding.

So much of this book is devoted to clearing up misunderstandings, I found it mostly frustrating. However, Skloot did clear up the misunderstandings and, in doing so, told interesting stories within this story, for example, the actual history of Johns Hopkins, so mistrusted by not only the Lacks family but many other black people as well.

Skloot also related science in easy-to-understand language. It was a pleasure to read for that reason but also because, although I was aware of the various research projects she mentioned, I had not known how a minute cell had made them possible.

(I note that at least one goodreads member reviewer has said that billions of dollars were made after HeLa went commercial. Not true. With more careful reading, that member reviewer will see that this assumption that billions of dollars were made is just another of the Lacks family's misunderstandings. Yes, money was made, and it is debatable that the Lacks were owed some of it. But it wasn't in the billions, and Johns Hopkins certainly didn't make that money.)