Understanding the pros and cons of baby cord blood banking

The concept of cord blood banking is however not very recent. The very first transplant of cord blood was performed by Gluckman in the year of 1988. Cord blood bank is the place which stores cord blood to be used in the future against several chronic diseases. While parents think about going for cord blood banking, they usually get trapped in a huge confusion about which one to choose from. The baby cord banks can be categorized as private and public banks. Public banks accept blood donation and provide to those in need. Private Banks let families to preserve blood at a fixed price. However, one must be clear about the pros and cons of both of them to make an informed decision.

The public baby cord blood banking provides several services to the donors. These do not charge any fees from the donors. The blood stored in such banks is further used for the several medical researches. These make their every possible effort so that these banks would be easily accessible for the public. In addition, when more and more people would donate the cord blood, doctors will also consider offering free of cost services. However, it is not a surety that cord blood donated would be available at the time of emergency. Furthermore, nothing can be said about finding a suitable match and even a match is found, the chances of rejection are high. The donor is not provided with the authority to object even if their blood sample is being donated to some other.

On the other hand private cord blood banking provides umbilical cord blood especially for the use of family.  It is useful when family requires sample for stem cell transplant, they can easily get it through these private bank. There is no fear of rejection and the success rate of the transplants increases to double rate. The choice of donation of the sample is only of the donor family. It is not only used for treatment of infants but there is a possible chance for the cure of family also. There are some charges for the collection and further storage of the blood banking in private units. During the transplant person’s own cord blood is not sufficient most of the times.

In addition, the insurance companies do not cover the charges for storage and collection. Compare cord blood banks and it is will be clear that private banks are offering successful services as compared to public banks. Before donation of umbilical cord blood it is essential to take some time and include the whole family in the decision.

Leukemia and lymphoma baby boomers have new hope

A new ray of hope has been shown by doctors of Loyola University Hospital. Patients who are above sixty and suffering from chronic diseases like leukemia and lymphoma are considered ineligible for the umbilical cord blood stem cells transplant. However, according to Loyola hospital doctors, it can offer treatment to patients even in their sixties or early seventies. The reason quoted by the director of Loyola Cancer Center was that most of the aged people today are much concerned about their health. They do exercises, run marathons and therefore have developed the ability to live for a longer time period.

This is the reason that it is safe for them to receive a transplant of stem cells just like teenagers. The median age of patients when they suffer from blood cancer is 65 to 68. Those who have this cancer and undergo conventional surgical methods possess less than five percent survival rate for five years. However, in Loyola six out of seven patients who have undergone this cord blood stem cells transplants are showing better performance than expected. A fact that becomes integral to know at this point is the stem cell transplantation is very risky and an exhausting treatment. 

The patient is given chemotherapy and also radiation for the destruction of cancer cells.  This also damages the cells of immune system of the patient. For that, sufferer is induced with donor stem cells that further develop into immune system cells.  Beside these the body might also develop several infections until immune system gets developed completely.  Once immune system gets developed under some conditions, it might attack own body. This is called graft vs. host disease. As a result, several drugs are provided that further boost the risks of many infections. Donor cells are taken from bone marrow or from umbilical cord storage.

Cord blood transplant is considered safe on the baby boomers than bone marrow transplant. Only ten percent of people with cord transplant develop graft vs. host disease as compared to fifty percent with bone marrow. However, a small quantity of stem cells is derived form cord blood which further increases the time limit to develop immune system. The center is involved in a medical trial in which cord blood is sent to laboratory to double the stem cell count. Loyola has cured more than 3000 patients till now and is one of the largest donor programs in the whole world. It has performed above ninety transplants. Moreover, it is the center’s experience that decides the success rate of the transplant.

Fighting for high need of cord blood donation and organ donors

Every single person carries something to save the life of at least one individual. According to health officials, an effective solution for millions of people suffering from severe diseases is donation. If people start donating blood, organs and bone marrow, then it can be used to cure thousands of people afflicted by terrible syndromes. Moreover, stem cells extracted from umbilical cord blood collection also play a great role to heal many of the diseases.  The main point of concern here is the need of such donation is increasing. 

According to the U.S. health resources and services administration, about 110,324 people were still on waiting list for organ donation by February 10, 2011. The number was however 59,862 a decade before. Considering the significance of the matter, health officials urged people for cord blood donation and donate organs on the national donor day that is on 14^th February.  People were encouraged to fill out a donation card and register with their state. An ironical fact is that very few people are there who show interest for donation. 

The stem cells taken from bone marrow and cord blood are used for the treatment of some fatal diseases like leukemia, aplastic anemia, lymphoma and autoimmune disorders. It is only the whole donations that follow the obligation of public health. One of the major problems is however the lack of knowledge about the growing need of donation. Further mostly people have this belief that registering for donation process is very complicated, and lengthy.  It is especially true in case of umbilical cord blood donation. People are unaware about the donation of cord blood and normally it is discarded.

 Every woman should however decide to donate cord blood to help others. The only thing to be done is to sign a consent form and send to cheek swab. From there genetic code will be determined and registered. Due to no genetic match with the family members, sufferers need to check out the registry. This not only ends here. There are several misconceptions about donation. Some believe the process would be painful and so get scared to go. Some believe that  donation is against their religion, some consider themselves too old for this process while rest of the people have this view that doctors only need donation and will not care for their life. The reality is one can donate even at the age of 90 or 80. It is a great charity to donate something to help others.  

A story about Raphaella

Hi, I am Cameron mother of Raphaella living in California. My entire family wishes Cryo Cell a good luck for providing such valuable and useful services to the people. Raphaella is my only son and we did not have any knowledge about such kind of services. Few days back, I listened from my friend about the benefits of Cryo Cell and we were delighted on hearing such great information. I did an extensive research on internet and found about everything about their services. The cord blood donation is a wonderful service and cord blood is actually a unique kind of blood which is often found in umbilical code during the delivery. I always pray to God about the lifelong good health of my child. Sometimes, situations are not in our hands and for that time if a child needs any kind of chemotherapy or radiations related therapy, it can work wonders.

It is my suggestion to all parents that they must donate cord blood to the cord blood bank in order to keep a safe side. One can donate cord blood in the private bank of Cryo Cell which they preserve for further use. It provides a sense of relaxation that cord blood is there which means a lot. I have kept umbilical cord blood in the blood bank of Cryo Cell and as told by doctors, the blood in umbilical cord can be used to treat more than 80 diseases. I am thankful to Cryo Blood Cell as I know that they have cord blood collection which we can use in future in case of any kind of emergency.

It is my request to do extensive research on these really wonderful services in order to gather more information about this. The cord blood of baby is highly rich in stem cells. The same stem cells are present in the bone marrow of human beings. Actually stem cells are also considered as master cells which help in producing mature cells in the immune system and in our blood. Therefore, it can be said that cord blood stem cells may easily be used to treat several kinds of diseases, even very acute diseases.

As I am satisfied, you can also be satisfied by using America’s most established family cord blood bank services. The research is still going to find more benefits of cord blood stem cells. The cord blood collection is a great source for your child’s health and you can remain without tension for entire life, just like me.