Cord Blood Donations Used To Collect Stem Cells

Umbilical cord blood donations do not use the mother’s blood, they use the baby’s blood that is left in the umbilical cord after birth. The cord blood is full of stem cells that the scientific community has pounced on.Why? Those stem cells are the basic building blocks of life.

Stem cell technology is being trialled on people with spinal cord damage and various cancers such as leukemia. One day they hope to be able to take stem cells and grow new organs like a liver or heart. The best stem cells to use are those taken from a new born baby’s umbilical cord. This is why umbilical cord blood donations are important

A syringe is generally used to collect donated cord blood after the cord has been cut. Some midwives simply squeeze the blood from the cord. Collecting donated cord blood is better than just throwing the umbilical cord and the umbilical cord blood out. After collection, the donated cord blood is stored and then sent away to have the stem cells harvested.

You have two options for cord blood collection. You can donate the cord blood where it is stored and used for research or treatment. The most common treatment juvenile leukemia where it has a high success rate.

The second option is to have the cord blood stem cells ‘banked’ for possible future use by your family, and in particular, your baby. There is nothing purer than the baby’s own cord blood stem cells if he or she should become sick. Collection will cost around $2000 with an annual fee of around $100. If your child should ever become sick, this will be small price to pay to save their life.

Research is being undertaken to test stem cells and their ability to repair spinal problems and restore movement to para/quadriplegics. More than seventy diseases can be treated using stem cells many of them being cured in the long term. The lack of umbilical cord blood donations is creating problems with one in five hundred births donating cord blood – the remaining four hundred and ninety-nine births are having their cords and the cord blood thrown out.

The best thing you can do to help increase in the amount of cord blood collected is to use the service and donate cord blood. If you are pregnant, ask the hospital or midwife if they collect cord blood. If not, there are many agencies that will collect it, either for public cord blood banking, or, if you are prepared to pay the price, your own personal cord blood banking. If friends or relatives are pregnant, get them to inquire about the process.

If more parents donate cord blood for research, science will find cures for diseases such as juvenile diabetes, brain injuries and spinal column injuries a lot sooner. Cord blood donations may be the future of our children’s health.