The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

It is with wonder and amusement I step into this world of higher education so late in life. My mind spins with excitement as I dream of all the new things I will learn as I read through the 4 semester curriculum required for the Aircraft Airframes and Powerplants certification I am pursuing. My first assignment has nothing to do with aircraft but does have to do with expanding the mind, which is the whole point of higher education. Our assignment to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a perfect place to start. This is, what could be called, a book report. It’s a collection of notes of my thoughts on the book. It will be very interesting to hear the discussions from the viewpoint of my 49 years of life to that of an 18-year-old mind.

A book report; The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

By Steve Gish

In 1951, there was a discovery, not by chance, but by the tireless deicated efforts of one Dr. George Gey to reproduce human cells in the lab. The reason there is a story here is because one sample, of the thousands of cells he tested, did not die. They began their immortal life as Henrietta Lacks. Scientists around the world have cloned and used these cells ever since to discover cures for diseases such as polio and create medicines for the treatment of HIV/AIDS and other ailments.

Henrietta Lacks was born into poverty in 1920; she lived a life of hardships from childhood thru motherhood. A black woman dedicated to life and family, it was not until after her death that her life took on extraordinary meaning.

The author has taken this one scientific anomaly (discovery) and spun a riveting tale of how it revealed to medical science unknown possibilities. She provides a tactful and in depth look at the life and family of the Henrietta and has given us much to ponder as our growth into a more interactive multicultural world continues.

It is often directed discoveries that provide progress for mankind. It took a whole string of discoveries to get the Wright brothers off the ground, from the discovery of fire to make the steel, to the discovery of the theory of lift by Bernoulli, to the concept of the combustion engine that lead to powered flight.

In 1950 it was common practice to conduct medical tests without fully informed patient or family consent, today we would not dream of it. This practice and its consequences are discussed through the eyes and words of the donor’s family as the author paints a picture of the personal side to this story. The controversy surrounding the collection of Henrietta's cells were part of the precursive events that lead to the adoption of the patient’s rights practices we know today.

Cultural maturity allows us to recognize past events that may not agree with the way we think today. It also provides us with a pool of knowledge and ideas to analyze and evaluate as we move forward with towards future discoveries.

As culture changes and time marches on, our view of events changes. Three hundred years ago a seventeen-year-old unmarried woman was an old maid, today in America the consenting age is eighteen. This book examines some of the growing pains of civilization, as we know it.

As I read this book I could not help but wonder how cell science applied on known "uniquely" qualified individuals such as Stephen Hawkins mental abilities, Ozzie Osborne's drug resistances, or athletes abilities to develop and generate tissue could further medical science to places we haven't even considered yet.

There are many questions that are raised in this book from racism, to ethics, to legalities within medical science and cultural differences even stimulating thoughts on religious views. It touches on a variety of topics perfect for inviting an active mind to engage. Congratulations are in order for the university staff for picking this piece to prime the incoming minds.

Of the many things a person could take away from this read, I was most impressed with the tireless efforts of the author that went into researching and preparing this piece. Many years in the making, Rebecca Skloot hit a home run with a complex subject matter. Her dedication to factual accuracy contributes greatly to the historical and entertainment values she develops. The last fifty or so pages of documentation at the end really revealed what this author put into this and how it enveloped her attention for ten plus years in the process. This book is more than just a page-turner from the storybook point but a riveting peek at an area of science that muddles along day by day making miraculous discoveries in relative obscurity. This is an outstanding piece of work!

Enrollment Days

In April I attended the Open House event at K-State Salina and enrolled for fall classes. I have never been excited about education in my entire life, but now I am. A bit apprehensive of the unknown sure, but I am comforted by the thought that my maturity will help me navigate this new endeavor. Increasing the average age of the aviation curriculum student by several years tickles me greatly. This time next year I may be the only fulltime student at K-State Salina with an AARP card.

 My student advisor Associate Professor Andrew Smith and I had much to talk about. We got acquainted on Saturday, discovering we had served in the US Navy, at the same base in Hawaii during the same time frame in the 1980’s. We were both there but did not know each other at that time. The other highlight of the four-day trip was when I received my student ID.

During Monday early enrollment orientation we were given our first “assignment” as incoming freshman to the fall semester. We are to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and be prepared to discuss the topics involved the first days of classes.

Events

The events in life are never late, or early, they seem to show up exactly when they intend to. My apprenticeship over the last 6 months has been an event, that for reasons unknown, did not follow the path I had intended. The promised training in the aircraft maintenance realm towards certification did not take place. I agreed to work for this company in exchange for the training, they got my work, I did not get their training, in the end they decided they would not honor our agreement and sent me on my way.
I still have a strong desire to work on and around airplanes, I love the challenge of the puzzle, the troubleshooting, the sense of accomplishment when the job is done. Not one to back down from a challenge I have taken another route. At 49 years old, I have enrolled as a freshman at Kansas State University Salina to attend their Aviation Maintenance Certification curriculum.