The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks  – The book is structured around three main narratives: Henrietta’s life and tragic death, the scientific journey of her cells, and the author’s interactions with the Lacks family, particularly her daughter Deborah.  Henrietta Lacks was a vibrant mother of five from a Southern tobacco farming community, who sought treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital for a painful cervical tumor in 1951. Despite radiation treatments, her aggressive cancer spread rapidly, and she died within a year. Unbeknownst to her or her family, a surgeon had taken samples of her cancerous and healthy tissue, which were given to a researcher named George Gey.