Happy Blood Cord Awareness Month
My Sister’s Keeper was a best selling book, and now a movie, about a young girl whose parents gave birth to her to possibly be a match for her ailing sister. The parents hoped that the child would be a bone marrow match. I recall a true story, which I do not know if the book was based on, where this very thing happened, though it could have happened to more families, minus the medical emancipation. Maybe the technology wasn’t there at the time, but the folks that advocate cord blood banking aim to educate the public that if a baby’s umbilical cord is properly preserved, it can save the life or health of the baby or possibly a sibling.
July is Blood Cord Awareness month. Instead of using stem cells from embryos, or certainly raising a child to be a match for another, researchers have found it more effective for an individual to be treated with their own stem cells. They have found the best way was to preserve the stem cells in a baby’s umbilical cord for future use is cryogenically. The cord cells would only be used for the individual baby at any stage in their life. It also has a one in four chance of being useful for a sibling of the baby for cord blood transplants, should the need arise. There is one transplant on the books that used the cells of a niece, but typically this match is less likely.
One of the largest places that bank the cells is Cryo-Cell. I suggest before selecting them, you go over the Cryr-Cell selection criteria to make sure they suit your needs and compare them with other companies. They have been in service since 1989, so are about the oldest cell bank, and have records of successful transplants. I am sure they are the sponsorer of Blood Cord Awareness Month, but you never can tell. I am not sure if there will be greeting cards and cakes next year if this catches on.
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