Cord Blood Banks: Your Childs Future Could Count On It

Banking your newborns cord blood is something that every new parent should do for their newborn, and their family. If your child develops a disorder that affects the blood and immune system, or a cancer, or possibly has inherited a disorder, their umbilical cord blood stem cells can be used to treat them if need be. Immune systems terrorized by radiation and chemotherapy have a hard time battling disease and infection, however, just by using cord blood stem cells there chance is greater too rebuild a patient’s immune system.

Beyond even what you can think of, cord blood stem cells have played a role in treating over 70 known disorders. Besides guaranteeing a perfect match for the child that it came from, it can also aid in helping other siblings, you, or maybe even an ailing grandparent. When your baby is born you have options as to what you want to do with the cord blood. If you aren’t going to store it for your own baby, you may want to donate it so that it is available for public use. Whatever your decision, you should not let you’re the cord blood go to waste.

The primitive nature of cord blood stem cells makes them the most malleable; cord blood stem cells are where white blood cells that fight infection originate from. They are the beginning of all oxygen carrying red blood cells, and the important platelets that clot and heal. They are preferred over bone marrow stem cells for many reasons. The retrieval method causes no discomfort to either mom or baby, the match doesn’t have to be perfect for it to be successfully used, and there is even less of chance of a viral infection. There have been more than 45 malignant and non-malignant diseases in children and adults, including leukemias, and lymphomas treated with stem cell transplantation. There are currently hopes that stem cells will even one day treat Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injuries, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.