How she has been overlooked…

“While her cells thrived, Henrietta declined. By September the cancer had spread throughout her body, and early the following month Henrietta died. However, the HeLa cells, famed for their longevity, continued to thrive in culture long after Henrietta’s death. HeLa became a ubiquitous study material, contributing to the development of drugs for numerous ailments, including polio, Parkinson disease, and leukemia. In spite of this, until the 1970s Henrietta’s role was unknown even to her family. In the 21st century Henrietta’s case was an important component in the debate surrounding informed consent from patients for the extraction and use of cells in research.” - Brittanica