Welcome to the comments and discussion of the Young Adult Cancer Book Club!  We are reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot! Catch up on Chapters 1-3, Chapters 4-6, and Chapters 7-9.

Let’s get started!

Chapter 10.  The Other Side of the Tracks.  1999.

This chapter takes us to Clover…”a few rolling hills off Route 360 in Southern Virginia, just past Difficult Creek on the banks of the River of Death.”  Wow!  What a description.  That sentence sums up a lot of this chapter for me.  Rebecca meets one of Henrietta’s cousins, Hector Henry, aka ‘Cootie.’  We learn what he knows about Henrietta’s cells and have a front seat into his superstitions behind the HeLa drama and Lacks Town.  These superstitions speak magnitudes to the need for better education of patients and families when procedures were done.  He is afraid of what he doesn’t understand and distrustful of the insitutions who are meant to heal.

– Mallory C

Chapter 11.  “The Devil of Pain Itself.”  1951.

This chapter opens with describing the progression of Henrietta’s cancer. At this point, she had tumors growing all over her diaphragm, bladder, and lungs. She required so many blood transfusions, due to her kidneys not being able to detoxify her blood, that the doctors stopped the transfusions “until her deficit with the blood bank was made up.” Henrietta’s sweet cousin, Emmett Lacks, hears that she needs to have blood donated, so he recruits his brother and friends to go to the hospital and do just that. We get to see Henrietta through the eyes of a loved one, as Emmett reminisces about all the times she was there for him. He spoke of sleeping on Henrietta’s floor and eating her spaghetti when he had just moved to Baltimore from the country. Emmett also mentioned the time he and Henrietta went to visit Elise, for what he thought Henrietta knew, was for the last time. However, what she didn’t know, it would be the last that anyone would ever visit Elise again. You are then jolted to a scene inside Henrietta’s hospital room, where Emmett is witnessing the suffering the cancer is causing her. Though this is an awful situation they are both dealing with, it is comforting to know that Henrietta had love and support from family and friends in that dark time. Being a cancer patient only allows us to experience the pain, never seeing ourselves go through it, like our loved ones do. We get this perspective as Emmett recalls when Henrietta goes into a fit of convulsions and thrashing, he says, “Henrietta rose up out that bed wailin, as if she been possessed with the devil of pain itself.” He told Rebecca, a memory he will take to his grave.

On the afternoon of September 24, 1951, a doctor gave Henrietta an injection of a heavy dose of morphine and wrote in her chart “discontinue all medications and treatments, except analgesics.” Two days later, she woke up confused and disorientated, for a moment forgetting her own name. Soon thereafter she turned to Gladys, her sister, and said she was going to die. Henrietta told Gladys to tell her husband, Day, to make sure he takes care of all the kids. Especially, Henrietta’s one year old daughter, Deborah. Henrietta had hoped she would be able to “dress her in beautiful clothes and braid her hair, to teach her how to paint her nails, curl her hair and handle men.” I chuckled when I read the last comment about handling men because it solidified Henrietta’s fierce character and spirit. After Gladys makes her way home, she calls Day and fulfills Henrietta’s request. Henrietta died on October 4, 1951 never knowing that her cells would pioneer the way for many advancements and discoveries within the medical field.

– Krystina N

Chapter 12.  The Storm.  1951.

I’m not going to lie, several things SHOCKED me in this chapter.  Right off the bat, the fact that laws protected dead patients more strictly than living patients was crazy and astounding to me.  Rebecca writes, “the law made it very clear that performing an autopsy or removing tissue from the dead without permission was illegal.”  I was also taken aback by Mary, Gey’s assistant, and her reaction to Henrietta during the autopsy.  Mary says that she noticed Henrietta’s painted toenails and said, “it hit me for the first time that those cells we’d been working with all this time and sending all over the world, they came from a live woman.  I’d never thought of it that way.”  What?!  How could you have been using this woman’s cells, making scientific discoveries right and left, sending the cells all over the world, and the first time you actually see her dead body, *that* is the moment you think of her as a real person?!  Seems like a definite and unnecessary disconnect given that Henrietta was alive when her cells were first taken.

– Mallory C

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Thanks for joining us for Chapters 10-12 of  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot!  Join in next Monday for Chapters 13-15.

If you’re just joining us, here are some logistics:

We will talk about several chapters each Monday until the book is done (probably about three chapters since the book has so many).  Then, we’ll use one more Monday to talk about general feelings from the book and anything else you’d like to discuss.  Join in, in the comments every week!  At the end, we’ll have a book club discussion via video chat!  Also, there will probably be spoilers.  Read along with us!

How are you enjoying our young adult cancer book club?

Welcome to the comments and discussion of the Young Adult Cancer Book Club!  We are reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot! Catch up on Chapters 1-3 and Chapters 4-6.

Let’s get started!

Chapter 7.  The Death and Life of Cell Culture.  1951.

I grew up in a family of healthcare professionals and scientists.  This chapter was FASCINATING to me!  A few days ago, I called up my dad, a PhD in microbiology, and told him I was reading this book.  I asked him if the name, Henrietta Lacks, rang any bells.  He said that it did but that he couldn’t place the name.  “What about HeLa?” I said.  That name he recognized.  The gravity of this book, published in 2010, being one of the first complete pieces of information out there about Henrietta is astounding to me!

Chapter 7 takes us into the nitty gritty of cell culture.  We see Gey sending Henrietta’s cells around the country and around the world to scientists, researchers, and physicians.  We are given mental images of test tubes in the breast pockets of pilots as they travel great distances.  Of great note, we learn about the birth of cell culture and the dark character who helped lead cell culture into the land of “racism, creepy science fiction, Nazis, and snake oil.”  I think many of us can see parallels between cell culture’s publicity issues and those of more current medical and scientific discoveries.  The personalities behind those discoveries seem to hold great power over public opinion of the science itself.

– Mallory C

Chapter 8.  “A Miserable Specimen.”  1951.

In Chapter 8, Henrietta faces something that I think most cancer patients are afraid of. She tells her doctors that she thinks that her cancer is spreading, but they tell her she’s fine. They later find out that she was right all along, but it’s too late to do anything about it. I think this is a prime example of why patients today are told to advocate for themselves. We trust doctors to know what they’re doing, but we also need to trust that we know our bodies best. What really struck me while reading this chapter is that it didn’t seem like the doctors understood that the same HeLa cells that were multiplying so quickly in a lab were also multiplying inside their patient. It actually made me kind of angry that they couldn’t seem to figure that out.

– Jessica B

Chapter 9.  Turner Station.  1999.

Reading the start of the chapter, I was feeling very anxious for Rebecca. She had gone to this place with minimal details and guaranteed plans and was having to wait around for a response. Also, given the secrecy and controversy surrounding Henrietta Lacks’ story, I was feeling a little worried for her as well, as there was always a possibility she was lured there with ulterior motives to have her stop following this story. It was encouraging and inspiring to see her not worry as much about these possibilities and instead start taking the situation into her own hands. She headed to Turner Station, after the strange discoveries of the town being somewhat hidden on maps. The atmosphere and surroundings she described as she made the trek to Turner Station and drove through the town gave me a very gloomy, sad feeling. I was wondering if the poverty and deterioration of the area was related to Henrietta’s story somehow, which we later learn was somewhat the case with the Mr. Cofield mentions by Courtney Speed, known as Mama. I was happily surprised the people of the town are a stark contrast to the bleakness of the surroundings. Rebecca describes happiness, playing children, smiles, people talking to each other on the street, and greeting those they knew. I was incredibly encouraged by the sense of true community in Turner Station. It is evident everyone has each other’s back. I was glad for Rebecca to finally connect with Mama and be trusted enough to be given resources to further her research. I am really intrigued to find out more about the past experiences Turner Station had related to Henrietta Lacks, particularly everything surrounding Cofield. I am also looking forward to following Rebecca’s journey to Clover, the next place on her search to uncover the truth. We should be so thankful for her persistence, as we now have this incredible book and story for the world to share.

– anonymous

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Thanks for joining us for Chapters 7-9 of  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot!  Join in next Monday for Chapters 10-12.

If you’re just joining us, here are some logistics:

We will talk about several chapters each Monday until the book is done (probably about three chapters since the book has so many).  Then, we’ll use one more Monday to talk about general feelings from the book and anything else you’d like to discuss.  Join in, in the comments every week!  At the end, we’ll have a book club discussion via video chat!  Also, there will probably be spoilers.  Read along with us!

How are you enjoying our young adult cancer book club?

Welcome to the comments and discussion of the Young Adult Cancer Book Club!  We are reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot! Catch up on Chapters 1-3.

Let’s get started!

Chapter 4.  The Birth of HeLa.  1951.

I have continually been amazed at how many important discoveries and procedures this book details that happened around the same time.  In this chapter, we see the beginning of laboratory sterile procedures and I was forced to ask myself…if you knew that a surgery area needed to be sterile, why would a lab be any different?!    This chapter also introduces us more formally to George Gey who invented the roller-tube culturing technique.  Still, at the end of the chapter I’m left wondering…what was different about Henrietta’s cells that they kept on going when other cells would die?  Hopefully, we’ll have that answer soon!

I really appreciate the pacing of this book so far.  Chapters are short enough to feel like I’m moving my way through the dense book but also packed full of great info and people.  Margaret and George both did so much to further the study of medicine and science and yet…I can’t escape the scandal underneath it all.

– Mallory C

Chapter 5.  “Blackness Be Spreadin All Inside.”  1951.

I just can’t believe all the science that was developed at this time.

I was never good at science and I’m not huge on history, but this was very interesting that they were in Pittsburgh at a point in their lives.  That’s where I’m from and where I live right now.  Having the tubes of radium inside Henrietta and the lead on her body just seems crazy to me.  Science is baffling to me right now, especially with the things that are happening with my own body and to read about where they started.  It’s interesting that Henrietta was able to have that many children and go through that surgery.  I guess it was lucky that Mary was very sterile and was able to keep those samples alive.  But baffling, Henrietta didn’t really know that all of that was going on with her samples. Well at the end of this chapter her skin is turning dark so I’m guessing that it’s spreading and side effects are happening, even though they weren’t recorded.  There’s still a good amount of the chapters left but I feel like her health is not doing well.

– Jennifer D

Chapter 6.  “Lady’s On the Phone.”  1999.

The harassment this family must have seen!  To only receive phone calls from white people when someone has questions about the Hela cells…ohhh my.  It makes total sense to me that Roland Pattillo chose to act as a gatekeeper of sorts, only allowing Rebecca Skloot access to contact information for Lacks family members after she seemed to satisfy the interview questions he gave and after he gave her a detailed list of “dos” and “don’ts”.  The fact that Rebecca was able to speak with Deborah, Henrietta’s daughter and get such great information only to be cut off for almost a year because of lack of trust just serves to emphasize the lack of trust the Lacks family had towards medical questions.

– Mallory C

In chapter 6, with the help of Patillo, the organizer for “The HeLa Cancer Control Symposium” in Atlanta, Rebecca is finally able to contact members of Henrietta’s family. First, she calls and talks to Henrietta’s only living daughter, Deborah, who is recovering from a stroke brought about (Deborah believes) from all the stress relating to the recent swarm of interest in her mother’s cells. During their first talk, Deborah surprises Rebecca by being excited to hear about Rebecca’s mission to write a book about her mother: this is thrilling to Deborah since she sees it as a chance to learn more about a mother she never knew. When Rebecca calls back to follow up on this first talk, however, Deborah is much less enthusiastic about the project. She sounds sedated and refuses to cooperate with any more interviews: Rebecca must contact her father or brothers if she wants to learn more. This leads Rebecca to contact David, Henrietta’s octogenarian widower, but in their brief exchange, he misunderstands her. After expressing irritation with people like Rebecca who keep pursuing him to learn more about his wife, he hangs up.

This chapter reveals Rebecca’s passion for Henrietta’s story deepening as she makes the first contact with Henrietta’s heirs. It also demonstrates the challenges she will face as she pursues the story. How can she convey her good intentions to the family of Henrietta and not seem like one more white person trying to cash in on the miracle of Henrietta’s cells? Rebecca’s motives appear sincere: she wants to write the book, after all, to honor Henrietta’s life and bring rightful attention to a woman whose cells have been such a benefit to science and humanity. At the same time, Rebecca’s decision to insert herself into the book about Henrietta feels problematic to me, even self-serving. Wouldn’t there be a way to write this book where the journalist narrator is not so obtrusive as a character? At this point in the story, I can definitely understand the Lacks family’s resistance to and suspicion of Skloot. Just like with them, she needs to do more to win over my trust that her intentions in telling this story are truly selfless and for the benefit of the Lacks family instead of her own.

– Ava

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Thanks for joining us for Chapters 4-6 of  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot!  Join in next Monday for Chapters 7-9.

If you’re just joining us, here are some logistics:

We will talk about several chapters each Monday until the book is done (probably about three chapters since the book has so many).  Then, we’ll use one more Monday to talk about general feelings from the book and anything else you’d like to discuss.  Join in, in the comments every week!  At the end, we’ll have a book club discussion via video chat!  Also, there will probably be spoilers.  Read along with us!

How are you enjoying our young adult cancer book club?

Welcome to the comments and discussion of the Young Adult Cancer Book Club!  We are reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot!

Let me start by saying, I’m really glad the Lacuna Loft community chose this book.  It was a close call between this choice and another (that read will become the Round 6 book club choice!) and I’m excited to read both.  The young adult cancer book club is for you, and I’m looking forward to learning how you react to the chapters of this book.  Each week, you’ll hear from a variety of voices of young adult cancer survivors.  You’ll hear how they react to each chapter as we go along and you’ll be given the opportunity in the comment section below each post to voice your own opinion as well.  If you’d like to have your reactions/comments for a specific chapter published on the Young Adult Voices blog, let me know by emailing info@lacunaloft.org.  I’ll be starting us off with Chapters 1-3 and next week other voices will start to fill the story in!

Chapter 1.  The Exam.  1951.

In addition to Chapter 1, I read all of the introduction material at the start of this book.  I appreciated how it introduced readers to the author and how it solidified the author’s viewpoint from that of the main characters.  Given the racism and cultural misappropriation rampant in the US, I was specifically relieved to hear the author very specifically state how she went about collecting her information, verifying it, and maintaining the authentic voice of the authentic persons involved.

Moving into Chapter 1, the first thing I noticed was the year marked at the top of the page.  “Thank goodness,” I thought!  The author explained in the introductory material that she would move around in time and I always worry about getting lost.  Having the timeline defined each chapter is a really great resource.  The first chapter launches us directly into Henrietta Lacks’s visit to the hospital where a physician takes a biopsy of her cervical tumor.  Flashing back a bit, Henrietta is having a conversation with a cousin of hers (Sadie) about the “knot” in her womb but doesn’t go to the doctor.  The author writes, “In those days, people didn’t talk about things like cancer, but Sadie always figured Henrietta kept it secret because she was afraid a doctor would take her womb and make her stop having children.”

Sitting at my desk chair, as a white woman in the year 2017, this fear seems wild to me, almost preposterous.  But that was then, and this is now.  Strong distrust of medical institutions, doctors, and the government ran rampant in the South (and still do in some places).  Letting that settle into my brain and into my heart took a few seconds.  I cannot imagine fearing that a physician would ‘take my womb,’ and I ache for Henrietta.

– Mallory C

Chapter 2.  Clover.  1920-1942.

This chapter provides great historical background and context to Henrietta’s story.  We see Henrietta’s birth, her move to live with her grandfather, her life spent with cousins on a tobacco farm, and more.  We move steadily through over 20 years of her early life and watch as she starts having children and marries.  Eventually, though tobacco is a desired crop, small tobacco farms are hurting and Henrietta’s family is just making ends meet.  She moves to Baltimore to start a new life with her husband working in a steel mill.

Henrietta’s early days, though full of hardship and hardwork, seem also filled with love, family, and community.  Learning details of her early life help cement her personality and spirit in my brain as I continue reading the book.

– Mallory C

Chapter 3.  Diagnosis and Treatment.  1951.

Chapter 3 sent us back to 1951 as Henrietta learns of her diagnosis and goes back to the hospital for treatment.  I very much appreciated the brief, medical description of in situ vs. invasive and to learn some of the fabulous histories behind the development of the Pap smear and early diagnosing strategies.  The misdiagnosing issues, as well as the quote, “Like many doctors of his era, TeLinde often used patients from the public wards for research, usually without their knowledge,” made me cringe.  So many important discoveries and crucial medical research done without consent!  Oh.my.goodness.

– Mallory C

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Thanks for joining us for Chapters 1-3 of  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot!  Join in next Monday for Chapters 4-6.

If you’re just joining us, here are some logistics:

We will talk about several chapters each Monday until the book is done (probably about three chapters since the book has so many).  Then, we’ll use one more Monday to talk about general feelings from the book and anything else you’d like to discuss.  Join in, in the comments every week!  At the end, we’ll have a book club discussion via video chat!  Also, there will probably be spoilers.  Read along with us!

How are you enjoying our young adult cancer book club?

Image via Cornelia Schütz

Round 5 of Lacuna Loft’s Young Adult Cancer Book Club is starting soon!  We’ll start with Chapter 1 on Monday, September 11.  The book, as chosen by you, is…drumroll please…The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot!  It was, once again, a very close race between two of the book choices!  The 2nd place book will be our Round 6 book club read.  So much to look forward to!

Lacuna Loft is offering a free book to 24 young adult cancer survivors or caregivers. To get your free book, fill out the form below.  If you’d like to request one of the free books, we’re asking that in exchange, you write a paragraph commentary about one of the book’s chapters.  When you fill out the form, we’ll send you your chapter assignment and when the deadline for your commentary is.

I’m so excited to read this book together!  [Update:  We are out of books!  Please know that you can still participate!]

I am super excited for the book club to be starting its 5th round.  Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, and Round 4 were a huge success and I expect nothing less from Round 5!  Each week, young adult cancer survivors and caregivers will share comments on the book, as well as personal thoughts and stories.  After we’ve completed the book, we’ll have a video chat where people can talk with one another about the book and life in general.

There are several ways for you to be involved in the book club.

1.  Read the book along with us and check out the Young Adult Voices blog each Monday for the next book chapter’s installment!
2. If you get behind, check out this page for all of the posts for Round 5 of the book club.
3. If you’d like to contribute your comments about a chapter, email info@lacunaloft.org at least a few days ahead of the Monday when that chapter will be discussed, with your comments and a short bio of yourself.

If you’d prefer to order yourself a book, you can find it listed on Amazon here…(remember to order using Amazon Smile and choose to support Lacuna Loft!)

Here are some logistics:

We will talk about a chapter each Monday until the book is done.  If Monday happens to be a holiday, then the post will publish on Tuesday.  Once we finish the book, we’ll use one more Monday to talk about general feelings from the book and anything else you’d like to discuss.  We’ll also have a video chat book club discussion at the end!  Join in, in the comments every week!  Also, there will probably be spoilers so read along with us!

Excited about the young adult cancer book club?  Have any suggestions for future reads?  Let us know!