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.
The stem cells collected from donated stems cells are being used to treat people with spinal cord damage and cancers such as leukemia, particularly childhood leukemia. It is hoped that one day they will be able to take stem cells and grow new organs such as a liver or heart. Stem cells taken from a newborn baby are still in their primitive state and can be trained to do specific jobs within the body. For this reason 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 can donate the cord blood through many general hospitals. They collect the cord blood on behalf of a cord blood research unit. The most common treatment at present is 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.
Stem cells may have the ability to repair spinal problems and restore movement to para/quadriplegics. Over 70 diseases can be cured using stem cells technology. The big problem is the lack of umbilical cord blood donations. Cord blood is only collected in one in five hundred births – the remaining four hundred and ninety-nine births have their umbilical cords thrown out.
You can help to increase the amount of cord blood collected by using the service and donating cord blood after your child has been born. Ask the hospital or midwife if they collect cord blood. There are many agencies that will collect the cord blood, either for public cord blood banking, or, for your own personal use at a later time.
The more people who donate cord blood, particularly for research, the more likely it is that science will find ways to cure diseases such as juvenile diabetes, brain injuries and spinal column injuries. Why waste a valuable resource by throwing it into a hospital incinerator when it could be used to save lives. The umbilical cord – who would have thought that cord blood stem cells could do so much? If you know someone who is pregnant, get them to donate cord blood.