The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, pt. 2

I wrote about this book awhile back (you can read the blog post here), and now I've just discovered that Allan Ball (who produces True Blood) and Oprah Winfrey are bringing this book to HBO as a movie! (read more about that here) I think it will be a great movie - heartbreaking, inspiring, and amazing.

I bought the book after I blogged about it, but I haven't read it yet. It's on my summer reading list, because I wanted to devote more time to it. I really hope that her family sees some of the profits from the movie - they deserve it after all they've been through over the years.

Did anyone else read the book?

Lauren Luke Looks - new book!

I received my copy of  Lauren Luke Looks: 25 Celebrity and Everyday Makeup Tutorials the other day. I love all of the pictures and tips! Makeup is definitely her calling - she does incredible things! I also enjoyed reading the "This is Who I Am" section written by Lauren. She has truly done amazing things with her life and is a wonderful example of what is possible.

I really like the book. I'm the type of person who does best with a photo and a list of "what to use". I love Lauren's videos, but since I can't really watch a video while doing my makeup, the book will be such a help while I'm actually trying to "do" the look. I can keep the book by my makeup table for reference. You can watch her YouTube videos for step-by-step visuals and/or verbal instructions - and still use the book for reference.

I purchased my copy from amazon.com for $14.96. I had $10 in credit on the site, and combined with my Amazon Prime membership (free 2 day shipping, yay!), my final cost was less than $5!

Places to find Lauren: Lauren's official website; on YouTube; on Facebook; on Twitter @panacea81 (Lauren) and @byLaurenLuke (Lauren's team); on Flickr; and on MySpace.

Anyone else a Lauren Luke fan?

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Have you heard of Henrietta Lacks? If not - you're not alone. I had never heard the name until I read this article.

Henrietta Lacks was a poor African-American woman who died of cervical cancer in 1951. Before she died, doctors took some cells from her cervix (without her permission, which isn't surprising, since that was standard practice back then), in order to study them. Her cells reproduced every 24 hours in a petri dish - which doesn't sound particularly special. However, her cells were the first human cells to ever be grown in a laboratory. Doctors had been trying for years to keep cells alive in the lab, but Henrietta's were the first successful attempt. Those cells are still grown today - and they have helped develop drugs for treating herpes, leukemia, influenza, hemophilia, and Parkinson's disease. They have also helped tremendously in cancer research.

Maybe you're saying, "Okay, that's really cool. But why haven't I heard of her?" or "Okay, that's great. So what?". Well, you haven't heard of her because no one really knew anything about her. And her family didn't know about the HeLa cells until many years after her death. What's surprising, and more than just a little disturbing, is that while big companies have been producing & selling her cells for big money all of these years, her family has never received any type of compensation. As a matter of fact, they're so poor, that they often can't afford health insurance. Henrietta's cells have played a part in helping so many people over the years - made the quality of their lives better, lengthened their lives, cured their cancers. One can't help but wonder how karma will even that out.

I read another article, which is an excerpt from Rebecca Skloot's book, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks". I found Henrietta's daughter Deborah's thoughts to be extremely interesting. I don't often read books like this, but this one will be an exception. Was that Henrietta's plan?