Some Final Notes on Henrietta Lacks

If you want to contribute to the Henrietta Lacks Foundation (created to help pay for the education and medical needs of the Lacks family) visit:

http://henriettalacksfoundation.org

If you are interested in more stories concerning HeLa, or Lacks recognition, a simple Google search (as mentioned in the book) will turn up thousands of results.

Also, if you haven't watched the YouTube video on the HeLa cells yet, I highly recommend it. Definitely worth the time.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks has made a steady move to the top of the Bay Area Paperbacks list this month. Coincidence? I think not.

Finally, it appears that Oprah has bought the movie rights to the book and is planning on producing one for HBO sometime in the future. Although, there is nothing listed about this on imdb.com which means this project is still at least 2 to 3 years away.

Henrietta Lacks Receives Honorary Degree

via npr.com

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/23/136587856/henrietta-lacks-receives-honorary-degree

The Way of All Flesh (BBC)

watch the rest on youtube

May Book: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

via goodreads.com

Who, you might ask, is Henrietta Lacks (1920-1951) and why is she the subject of a book? On the surface, this short-lived African American Virginian seems an unlikely candidate for immortality. The most remarkable thing about her, some might argue, is that she had ten children during her thirty-one years on earth. Actually, we all owe Ms. Lacks a great debt and some of us owe her our lives. As Rebecca Skloot tells us in this riveting human story, Henrietta was the involuntary donor of cells from her cancerous tumors that have been cultured to create an immortal cell line for medical research. These so-called HeLa cells have not only generated billions of dollars for the medical industry; they have helped uncover secrets of cancers, viruses, fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping. A vivid, exciting story; a 2010 Discover Great New Books finalist; a surprise bestseller in hardcover.