#roanoke va

Born Loretta Pleasants in Roanoke, Virginia Henrietta Lacks (August 1920-October 4, 1951) went to live with relatives in Clover, Virginia, after her mother died. In 1951, Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer. While she was receiving treatment in a segregated ward at the Johns Hopkins University Hospital, researchers took a small piece from Lacks's tumor, without her knowledge, for research purposes.

While experimenting on the sample, scientists observed that Lacks's cells reproduced and thrived outside of her body, a result researchers had unsuccessfully attempted to secure for decades. Lacks died of cancer on October 4, 1951, and was buried in a family cemetery in Clover. The "immortal cells" from Lacks's body continued to grow, and researchers around the world began to conduct experiments with them. Today, billions of HeLa cells are in use in laboratories around the world.

This image is a photo courtesy of the Lacks family and was reprinted from the "Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot.

Learn more about Lacks on her Changemakers webpage at https://edu.lva.virginia.gov/changemakers/items/show/30

I did!!! 💚💛 Class of 2015! (I cannot believe that I’ve been out of college longer than I spent there. What the actual fuck??)