woman who died in 1951, for her enduring contribution to medical science. cell samples from mrs lacks, taken without consent, became the first ever to survive and multiply outside the human body. aru na iyengar reports. henrietta lacks was my grandmother. my grandmother was a black american woman who was born on august 1st, 1920, in roanoke, virginia, to eliza and johnny pleasant. the ceremony at the world health organization was to honour henrietta lacks, but also as a reckoning for past injustices. a poor tobacco farmer and mother of five, she was just 31 years old when she died of cancer in 1951. during treatment, some of her cancerous cells were removed without her consent. what was ground breaking was they were the first living human tissue ever to survive and multiply outside body.