Henrietta Lacks’ story is pretty unbelievable and amazing. Diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951, she completely shocked doctors when they did a biopsy of her tumor, and noticed something very surprising about her cells.
Differently to other people, her cells had an incredible longevity in lab conditions, which meant it was possible to properly study them and do research on them. Lacks died in 1951, but her cells live on today, and have been able to help learn more about cancer, radiation poisoning, A.I.D.S. and even develop a polio vaccine.
