Thursday, November 02, 2006

I want to suck your cord blood!

In the spirit of Halloween:

One of the many things I was unaware of is that having a baby brings up questions about stem cells. Apparently the blood in the placenta and umbilical cord contain stem cells which can be frozen and used for treatment of diseases of the blood and immune system. Typically this cord blood can be collected after the placenta comes out and can be stored in a private cord blood bank in the event that they donor (ie. the baby) develops a disease, or in a public bank in case a matching donor can be found.

Polly and I talked about what should be done with Unit's cord blood, and we decided that we are going to donate it to a public cord blood bank. It's pretty unlikely that Unit will develop a blood disease (about 1:2,700 to 1:20,000 odds) and if someone else could use the cord blood it's better that it go to use. Also, my father had a blood disease, aplastic anemia, which is one of the fifty or so diseases that cord blood may be helpful in curing. My dad had to get blood transfusions on a pretty regular basis for a number of years. I'm grateful for the fact that public medical banks exist and are there for people who need them. With any luck Unit's cord blood might be able to help someone else out.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

We're doing treatment with cord blood for diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma, etc. The early results show less side effects so it's promising.

Anonymous said...

Good decision; I like the link to Dad's condition. Love, mom

Cindy said...

Due to Unit's kind, caring parents s/he will enter this world already making a difference for others. What a wonderful way to start out in life! I respect your decision and also am touched by the connection to Unit's grandfather.

Anonymous said...

Very cool! We tried to donate ours from the boys, but no public banks wanted ours. I always wondered if the private banks had edged them out somehow, since our OB was always giving us propaganda on the private banks...