We live in a cautious society, one that has become increasingly more so in recent years. We don’t like to take chances with anything and so, whether through taxes or personal expenditure, we devote a large percentage of our income to failsafes like policing, insurance and home security systems. The automobiles we drive reflect this growing emphasis on risk management. Only forty years ago, it was easy to find cars that didn’t come equipped with seat belts. Vehicles today often boast pre-tensioned, three point seat belts for all occupants, multiple airbags, whiplash resistant headrests, a steel safety cage and a computerized stability control system. Models rolling out shortly will include improved, directional headlights and radar assisted collision avoidance systems. We shop for family cars while clutching data on crash statistics for various models while our parents tended to focus on things like color and the amount of room inside. A relatively recent trend has allowed people to extend their cautious outlook and concern for covering all the bases for the health of themselves and their families. Not just through medical insurance, although that is certainly an important component of many peoples’ personal health mitigation strategy. In what has become a game changing option for many people, it is now possible to collect the blood from your child’s umbilical cord after birth and store the material in a cryogenic facility for future use. Medical research has shown cord blood stem cells are effective in treating a wide range of debilitating diseases and conditions, including: Sickle Cell Anemia, Hodgkin’s Disease, acute and chronic Leukemia and Tay Sachs Disease; over seventy different diseases to date. Studies have also shown promise for using stem cell transplants to fight Diabetes, Heart Disease, Stroke, Muscular Dystrophy, Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease, among others. In the past, the umbilical cord was disposed of after birth, considered medical waste. Stem cell treatment is showing every sign of being one of the most significant breakthroughs in modern medicine, but early efforts were dogged by controversy due largely to use of embryonic tissue. Collecting and cryogenically preserving the cord blood stem cells from your own child’s birth resolves two important issues: the means of obtaining the stem cells has no ethical implications and the use of donor material from related family members is typically far more successful in treatment than material donated by a stranger. A few decades ago, going to this extreme might have seemed excessive. Today, it only seems like common sense, providing protection and future treatment options for yourself and your family.
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