Cord Blood Donations Used To Collect Stem Cells

A baby's umbilical cord is full of stem cells so umbilical cord blood donations are becoming an important part of a mother's pregnancy. The umbilical cord does not contain the mother's blood, it is simply the no longer needed baby's blood. If you can picture a water hose, when you turn off the water, there is still some remaining in the hose - the same is true of the umbilical cord.

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

To collect donated cord blood the nurse or midwife uses a syringe to draw out the blood before the umbilical cord is disposed off. This is better than just throwing the umbilical cord and the umbilical cord blood out. Once collected, the cord blood is sent away to have the stem cells removed for storage.

As a parent, you have two options for cord blood collection. The first is to donate cord blood. The umbilical cord blood is sent to a central cord blood registry. They often have a waiting list of patients and scientist looking for stem cells. The most common use is for the treatment of 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.

To increase the amount of cord blood collected parents are urged to use any available services for donating cord blood after your child has been born. If the service is not offered then ask the hospital or midwife. There are agencies that specialize in the collection of cord blood either for public cord blood banking or for personal use at a later time.

The more parents who donate cord blood for research, the more likely science will find cures for diseases such as juvenile diabetes, brain injuries and spinal column injuries. Who would have thought that cord blood stem cells could do so much? Umbilical cord blood donations may be the future of our health.

Article by: Les | Total views: 135 | Word Count: 517

About the Author

The umbilical cord is just a hose but that hose contains valuable stem cells. Find more information on the donation of cord blood and see how one parenting step can save many lives.