Comments on: Cord Blood Donation

By: Cord Blood Registering: Decision Has Been Made | After the Alter

Cord Blood Registering: Decision Has Been Made | After the Alter — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 02:13:48 +0000

[...] couple of months ago I posted about our dilemma with our choice with what to do with our babies cord blood. Should we do private or public? If we choose public, which company should we go with? Well we went [...]

By: Joan

Joan — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:45:15 +0000

We banked our children’s cord blood over 11 years ago!

Over a year ago my 11 year old was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. If you don’t know about type 1, its horrible (I’d never let her hear that!) Finger pricks before every meal, counting carbs, weighting food, a shot with breakfast, lunch, dinner and before bed. 3am checks when I’m afraid she might go low. NOT FUN! She is handling it great!

We had to find out for ourselves as none of the specialist at the hosp. knew that they are now using cord blood in studies and they are seeing great potential in reversing type 1 diabetes. Its not a cure, yet… I feel so strongly about this and am so thankful that I did it that I started my own company(Center for Stemcell Awareness) to spread the awareness.

I couldn’t believe what I found on the internet about all the advances in cord blood stem cell therapies. There are over 2900 clinical trials right now on UCB stem cells. I currently work to educate expectant parents and medical professionals about the importance of cord blood banking. I have to be honest its not the 80 diseases that they know they can treat it’s the work that they’re doing in regenerative medicine that’s what excites me. I just wish they’d hurry up!

I am also working with a leader in the industry and have been able to get the price down to $1750. Considering that it costs $1850 11 yrs. ago I was thrilled with my accomplishment. But I must say that the OB’s are not very enthusiastic, many of them are not interested and really don’t want to be bothered. I have been very surprised.

I thought it was a no brainer I had the money and did it, if I didn’t have the money I would have donated it. I’m in Sarasota, FL and we don’t have a public option I am hoping as the awareness spreads that we can evidently get a public option here.

Sorry for the long post I could go on & on.

By: Natalie Curry

Natalie Curry — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:11:29 +0000

Cord blood banking is one of the most important decisions you will make about ensuring your baby’s and family’s healthy future. While it is unlikely your baby or any one in your family will suffer from a life threatening disease such as blood cancer. It is however likely that they may need to have cord blood treat another type of medical condition or injury.

Tremendous advancements are being made constantly in the field of stem cell research. So the potential use for stem cells in the future is very high!

I am so glad to hear that you have decided to save your baby’s cord blood. I encourage you to please educate yourself before making your final choice on a private bank.

Also I recommend you check out CorCell, they are a fantastic private company. They offer unmatched customer service and have just launched a new financial program called Afford-A-Cord to help make banking more affordable.

I hope this helps.

Best of luck to you!

By: Shelley @ Hand In Hand

Shelley @ Hand In Hand — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:02:46 +0000

I never even knew that you could do this in the first place!

By: Sharon

Sharon — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:40:29 +0000

I agree with you. It truly is like insurance and I know personally if I didn’t do it and God Forbid something happened and the cells from the collection could have helped I would be devastated if I didn’t collect. In my opinion it is better to be safe than sorry. But just like everything-you have to do what is best for you and your family.

By: Sol

Sol — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:05:28 +0000

We banked with Viacord with Leah and some of her blood is part of a trial study for the drug Lamictal (I took it while pregnant with her). We delayed clamping with Louis. Since having Leah I did a bit more research and felt that delayed clamping may actually be better in terms of protecting the baby from diseases and so forth than banking the blood. Who knows, maybe with the next one I will give birth at Manhasset and choose public banking. Plainview doesn’t have the option.

I do have to say that as far as customer service goes Viacord used to be great but I found that the past 2 years or so they aren’t where they used to be.

If you want to do this, do the math. If you feel the added expense is something you guys can handle without burdening yourselves then do it.

By: Jen

Jen — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:40:19 +0000

See I understand that the technology isn’t there now. But what about 5, 7 years from now? I just don’t want to look back and regret missing out on it b/c of the expense right now. I guess it’s a gamble yes…but I have to think it’s worth it? Look at what it says they can possibly cure right now..
http://www.cordbloodbankingguide.com/cord-blood-uses.html
I don’t know..something to think about. I guess it’s more like taking out insurance. You hope you don’t get in an accident and need it, but when you do you are pretty happy you did.

By: Kate (This Place is Now a Home)

Kate (This Place is Now a Home) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 01:35:50 +0000

I thought about this a lot earlier in my pregnancy as well. One thing to keep in mind is that most doctors I talked to expressed that even if one’s baby is born with a number of issues that are technically treatable by cord blood, they can NOT use their own cord blood to treat them, because the genetic abnormality causing the issue (say, cancer) is also present in the cord blood, so it’s of no use even though it is a “perfect match”. Also, the technology is so new that every doctor I asked (from general practitioners to OB’s to pediatricians) said that they have never seen cord blood be used to treat most of the issues that cord blood storage companies list on their websites, even though it is POSSIBLE.

I came to the conclusion that private banking was only something to consider if someone in your family (another child, perhaps) already has a condition that could be treated by a sibling’s cord blood, and a suitable donor was not found in the public registry. In my case, as this is my first child and we do not have any preexisting conditions that lead me to believe we will need cord blood, it does not seem worth it.

PUBLIC donation, however, can save many, many lives. So that’s something to consider.