3 Reasons to Donate Umbilical Cord Blood to a Public Bank

A baby’s cord blood, or the blood left in the umbilical cord and placenta after delivery used to be discarded after birth. However, this blood is typically rich in stem cells, which can currently be used to treat many diseases. Although some forms of stem cell collections are controversial, since collecting stem cells from the umbilical cord is safe, painless, and derived from the normal birthing process, so it is as non-controversial as donating blood, and just as potentially lifesaving. Many parents choose to save their baby’s cord blood and have it stored with a private bank, so that it will be available for family use if needed. Others choose to donate the blood to a public bank for the public good. If you are considering either saving or donating your baby’s umbilical blood, here are three great reasons to consider donation to a public bank:

1) Public Donation is No Cost To You. In general donation to a private bank will cost about $1700 the first year and approximately $125 each year thereafter. However, cord blood donation is free to parents. The public cord blood banks pay for the collection, testing and storing of the umbilical cord blood. SO if the cost of private donation is prohibitive for you and your family, you may want to consider public donation. Although public donation means the blood is available for anyone who is a match, if the cord blood you donate is a match for a given transplant, it will be available to you unless it has already been used by another person. And in some cases, the likelihood of it having been used is low since in general less than 10 percent of banked units are used. And while you can’t guarantee availability with a Public Bank, the more people that donate to a public cord blood bank, the higher the likelihood for a match from any donor source.

2) You May Help Save the Life of Another. Let’s face it, you have a potentially life-saving product available at the time of delivery. You no longer need it, use it, or can keep it. Your options – treat it as medical waste and throw it away, or allow it to be collected, at no cost to you, and potentially save someone’s life. Seriously, it makes the decision so much easier when you look at it like that. The collection is painless, completely safe for you and your baby (the blood is collected only AFTER it has been separated from you and your baby) and free. There really is no reason to allow it to be discarded when it can provide so many benefits.

3) Public Donation Provides Samples for Needed Research. Even if for some reason your donation isn’t eligible for transplant purposes, it can still be used for research. And research is what leads doctors to know how to treat illnesses and new ways to use cord blood to treat and even possibly prevent illnesses in the future. If you know the cure for cancer was in your kitchen wastebasket, wouldn’t you let someone have full access to it? Well, that may be a long shot – but in the case of cord blood – there is so much we have already learned about its potential for treating and prevents diseases, that it is very likely that your simple donation can be used to help researches learn more about the treatment and prevention of cancer and other diseases in the future.

While not all states have public cord banks, you can ask your hospital whether it accepts cord blood donations for research purposes. With all the potential benefits derived from cord blood, really the decisions isn’t whether or not you should save your baby’s cord blood, but whether you choose public or private banking.