It all began in 1951 when an Afro-American woman named Henrietta Lack was emitted to John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland to be treated for her cervical cancer. The doctors treated Henrietta and took a sample of her cells during a biopsy.

According to John Hopkins Medicine, the discovery of Henrietta’s indefinite reproduction of cells, (which is when the cells are basically immortal) was thanks to a “generous donation” of her cells, although it has been clearly stated to the public that Henrietta and her family were completely left in the dark about the studies being conducted on her cells. The Lacks family only found out about the use of Henrietta’s cells in 1973  when the scientists who studied Henrietta’s cells called and asked to study the family’s genes (to see if they too carried the rare cells). To this day, the Lack family is enraged about how Henrietta was treated and how the HeLA line is still being advertised without proper credit.

In 2021, the Lack family sued Thermo Fisher for not receiving compensation for the HeLA cells, and the results ended in an out-of-court settlement.

Henrietta Lacks died on Oct. 4 in 1951 at the ripe age of 31 because she succumbed to her cervical cancer, but her cells lived on, and through the studies of her cells, many vaccination advancements were made, such as polio and COVID vaccines, including treatments for cancer.