In 1951, doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore took tissue samples from a young black woman dying of cancer - without her knowledge - and used them to create the first lab-grown human cells.
Sixty years later, author Rebecca Skloot's "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," Daniel Boone Regional Library's 2011 One Read book selection, explores the story of how Lacks' cells have changed the medical field and the impact on her family - who did not even know about what the doctor had done until decades later.
To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.