Henrietta Lacks or HeLa immortal cells

I came across the extraordinary story of this woman and I painted for her. To celebrate her life

Henrietta Lacks was an African-American woman, who had five children with her husband Day. In 1950 she was diagnosed with cancer and died on October 4 1951 at the age of thirty-one.

Henrietta's tissue samples were removed and her cells then cultured to create a cell line for medical research that had been growing in labs decades after her death.

They are now known as HeLa immortal cells.

Since they were put into mass production, Henrietta's cells have been mailed to scientists around the globe for research into cancer, AIDS, the effects of radiation and toxic substances, gene mapping and countless other scientific pursuits.