The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Imagine being able to help millions of people but you weren't even aware of it.  Well, that's just what happened to Henrietta, as detailed in Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells the story of how scientists took advantage of a poor, dying woman and used her cells to develop the medicines and medical technology that have aided millions of sick people throughout the world today (read the full summary here at Amazon.com.) 

The worst part of this is that, years after her death, her surviving family has yet to reap the benefits of her "contributions" to medicine.  This is what the author, Rebecca Skloot, aims to tell the whole world in the writing of this book.

It's a very moving read and one that tries to explain both sides of the story.  We hear from the medical team who extracted the cells from Henrietta Lacks; to the scientists who have done wonders, and are reaping millions of dollars, with the use of her cells; to her surviving family who are so hard up, they couldn't even afford health care insurance for themselves.

It's a very good book with a lot of easy-to-digest medical information for the common lay reader.  One that aims to tell the world the whole story of Henrietta Lacks and her "immortal" cells.