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"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" has been made into an HBO movie, starring Oprah Winfrey and Alan Ball. Henrietta Lacks had been the person responsible for the HeLa cells, which have been made into a vaccine and is important to science up until this date.

Who Is Henrietta Lacks?

Henrietta Lacks was a tobacco farmer, whose cells were taken in 1951. The HeLa cells, as the doctors called it, were the cells from Lacks, taken from her without her knowledge. The cells had been important in health and responsible for the polio vaccine, gene mapping, cloning, and more.

It is reported that Henrietta Lacks' cells had been bought and sold over these years but her family cannot even afford health insurance, as reported by Rebecca Skloot. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" is a book that tells a story of the origins of the Lacks' family and how the HeLa cells came about.

Henrietta Lacks was 31 years old when she passed away. She left a husband and five children. She also went on, leaving behind a legacy that her descendants can carry on. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" is written by Rebecca Skloot.

Henrietta Lacks' Family

The great-granddaughter of Henrietta Lacks, Veronica Robinsons often heard stories about the cells and its importance but never really knew the story behind it. Lacks' descendants were able to understand the importance of Henrietta Lacks when Skloot came along, according to CNN.

The book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" has taken Skloot 10 years to complete. Veronica Robinson shared that Skloot took the family on a journey about how important Henrietta Lacks is in the field of medicine.

Oprah Winfrey portrays the role of Henrietta Lacks in the HBO movie about "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks." It is only now that Lacks' story has been told and shares how her family's legacy is important to medicine and life itself.