“There isn’t a person alive who hasn’t benefited from your mother’s cells,” Deborah Lacks is told in the first teaser for “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” Deborah’s mother changed history, but her name was omitted from the books that teach it. The HBO TV movie tells the true story of Henrietta Lacks, an African-American tobacco farmer whose cells were used — without her knowledge — to create the first immortal human cell line.

Based on Rebecca Skloot’s book of the same name, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” is told from the perspective of Deborah, played by Oscar nominee Oprah Winfrey. In the teaser, Deborah reveals that throughout her life, she’s only ever cared about knowing her mother. “I’m tired of wanting to know and hiding,” she insists. Deborah is determined to “learn about the mother she never knew and to understand how the unauthorized harvesting of Lacks’ cancerous cells in 1951 led to unprecedented medical breakthroughs, changing countless lives and the face of medicine forever,” HBO’s official synopsis details. “It’s a story of medical arrogance and triumph, race, poverty, and deep friendship between the unlikeliest of people.”

Lacks’ cells helped the medical community advance research in cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and the polio vaccine, but her contributions to the field have received little recognition.

Henrietta is portrayed by Renée Elise Goldsberry (“Hamilton,” “The Good Wife”) in the movie, and Rose Byrne (“Spy,” “Damages”) plays Skloot.

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” is directed by George C. Wolfe (“You’re Not You”) and will premiere on HBO April 22

Check out the emotional teaser for your first look at Winfrey’s performance, which could very well lead to an Emmy nom for the media mogul.