Kim’s Blog: Faith Healing

In the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, award-winning science writer Rebecca Skloot tells the story of Henrietta Lacks and the cells that were taken from her, grown in culture, and spread around the world in service to scientific and medical research. The book is a beautiful blending of the story of Henrietta and her family with the story of the development of the HeLa cell line and its scientific impact.

It was more than 20 years after Henrietta died of cancer that her family became aware that her cells had been harvested, grown, and were still being grown for use in scientific research. HeLa cells have played a role in finding a vaccine for polio, studying cancer, and doing genetic research to name but a few of their many contributions.

The story of how Henrietta’s family became informed about the use of her cells is quite involved itself. Sadly, the process involved a great deal of pain and stress to her family, especially for her daughter, Deborah.

At one point, Deborah is working with writer Rebecca Skloot to uncover Henrietta’s history. Deborah is struggling to process the things she is finding out about her mother, her mother’s cells, and her family. Deborah has broken out into hives from the stress. Deborah and Rebecca go to visit Deborah’s cousin, Gary, who conducts a kind of faith healing through singing and praying. Rebecca is a non-believer, and yet she tells us, “I’d been watching all this from a recliner a few feet away, dumbfounded, terrified to move or make noise, frantically scribbling notes. In any other circumstance I might have thought the whole thing was crazy. But what was happening between Gary and Deborah at that moment was the furthest thing from crazy I’d seen all day.” [page 292]

As I read this, I was reminded that in spite of all that science can do, we still need religion to help us deal with our feelings. We need the experience of transcendence when the load is difficult to bear. We need the insights of religion to illuminate our experiences and give us perspective. We need to embrace the mystery of healing wherever it may come from. Religion opens a window to the reality beyond our comprehension and gives us access to spiritual resources that are beyond rationality. Symbols, art, music, prayer, and ritual are powerful ways of engaging the depths of our lives. Religion is more than what meets the eye and can be a much needed healing force in our lives and in our world. It may even inspire us to seek greater scientific knowledge as well as medical treatments and cures. Truly faith can heal!