In the film, Rebecca (Rose Byrne) works hard to find a way to get the Lacks family to trust and allow her access to learn more about their mother. RELATED: The White Garden: A Novel of Virginia Woolf (2009): An Intertextual Treasure Hunt Into Woolf’s World The film details the role that Rebecca Skloot played as an investigative journalist, uncovering the truth of who Henrietta was and trying to shine a light on her contribution to medical science. Unfortunately, her identity remained virtually untraceable as the medical community used her cells for advancements without ever acknowledging where the credit was due. Therefore, they were essentially immortal and Henrietta as a consequence was a medical miracle. These cells, HeLa (named so after Lacks’s names) were the first to reproduce outside of the human body.
Without her permission or that of her family, cells from her cancerous tumor were removed by doctors at Johns Hopkins. In 1951, Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer. Your Cells Are Going To Help A Lot Of People And yet so many of us fail to recognise just who she was. The story is a heartbreaking one because we – all of us – have Henrietta Lacks to thank for so many medicines and vaccines that are a part of our everyday lives.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was written by Rebecca Skloot and was adapted for television by HBO.
And in that dichotomy lay both the horror and beauty of the unfolding narrative. The book read as part fiction, part improbable non-fiction. It had been a while since I read such a gripping, incredible novel. I read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks a few months ago as part of my monthly book club selection.
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