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A friend of mine looked into before she gave birth. There is a high cost associated with private cord blood storage. In Canada, the initial fees which include registration, testing, and collection are about $2000. Then there's the yearly storage fees on top of that (about $300 a year). My friend ended up donating her cord blood to a public cord bank. There's no fees involved in that, but anyone who matches that cord blood can have it. The chances of someone in the same family needing that sample is quite low, so it would be of more benefit to help someone else who can really use it.
We're donating our cord blood rather than saving it. There have been so few cases of people being able to use their baby's own cord blood, that I see no point in saving it for ourselves. (There are a few exceptions, such as known sibling with pre-existing disease that requires stem cell transplant).
Cord blood banking is saving the baby's stem cells in the event that they might need them for some future disease state:
Ok, I never heard that a cord blood could be somewhat useful, so I have to admit, I was grossed out by the title of this! Can someone enlighten me on the use of a cord blood, whether keeping it or donating it?
EGB- read the link I provided. It should answer most questions you might have :)
I seriously would have considered it if it were being done 11 years ago when I had M. I think it's a wonderful idea. Somewhat costly yes, but a good idea.
I might even if its irrational. My mom is going through a stem cell transplant soon and the miniscule possiblity that my baby or someone else in the family could face the same thing one day might make me private banki it. Of course on the flip side is donation - the cord blood is much more likely to help someone else, and its only because of this public banking and bone marrow registries that so many cancer patients are able to get treatment....
If you are preganant please donate your cord blood if you don't private bank it!! and if you are not, please sign up for the bone marrow registry. Such an easy way to help save a life.....
I had no idea it could be donated! I definitely like the idea of that :)
Wow, I didn't know you could donate cord blood either, why isn't there more information on that? Why aren't they advertising that on tv??
I seem to think it's between two to three thousand initially and then a yearly fee of a few hundred. I'm sure it varies based upon location. Great idea if you can afford it.
the donation is at NO FEE to the donor. The bank pays for everything if you donate, it is pricey if you private bank it for your own use.
Donation is less visible because it is non-profit and probably have no money for advertising. Here's where you can learn more:
http://www.marrow.org/HELP/Donate_Cord_Blood_Share_Life/index.html
just an FYI: i am a hematologist and don't really support cord blood storage at this point. the best you can do is donate to a public storage to help someone else. there is essentially no circumstance in which cord blood can help a family member. the child cannot use their own cord blood for a stem cell transplant that requires a donor (if they need a stem cell transplant with stem cells from their own system, they just donate at that time because the stem cells can be taken from their blood). the child can donate directly to a sibling with a higher quality stem cell from their blood if ever the sibling needed a stem cell transplant. you cannot use a childs cord blood for a parent because it is genetically impossible to be a match unless the parents are siblings! so, there is essentially NO circumstance for the stem cells to be used to benefit your family. right now there is no regulation of these storage facilities and they are excessively expensive. i will not be banking stem cells in this manor! hope this helps and isn't too confusing :)
Wow, I also didn't know you could donate it, nor did I know that it can't be used for the parents....this has been a very informative post for me, and I think that when the time comes for us to have children, we'll donate. Thanks!
I agree Galore, completely! The other day I found the stats for how many banked stem cells have been used as intended and the number is infinitesimally small! Donation, however, has been very useful to those who need it!
My husband's a resident as well and he doesn't feel like it the risk of the diseases it is used for makes it worthwhile, but we may consider it in the future. Also, in the case where a family were already sick that would change things, too. We really want to donate rather than toss it, but the hospital where we are delivering does not do that. Is there another option for donating that you ladies know of?
I never knew you could donate the cord blood, but now that I know, that'll be my plan when we have babies!
I heard about donating it instead of private banking it, I just didn't know where to start. Thanks for the links ladies. I am definitely going to get this process started.
Even if yourhospital doesn't do the donations you can still get the kits sent to your doctor or hospital and then they just ship them to other facities. Many lives are saved everyday by cord blood transplants. It's a great thing to do!
Well there are no banks on the eastern part of PA (go figure) so I will talk to my doctor about it.
roddy - hopefully your doctor has some ideas!
for the rest, here is a link to where you can donate cord blood
So now that I'm getting down to the nitty gritty of donation, I just wanted to let people know some more details. When you donate to the registry, they also take 6 tubes of blood from the mom. There are certain criteria you have to meet, such as no tattoos in the last year and no uncontrolled or severe autoimmune disease. (I have a mild well-controlled autoimmune disease, so this was a big concern to me).
You fill out paperwork with your local blood bank at least 3 weeks before your due date or you notify your hospital (who has to participate in the program) when you arrive. Because Lemon will arrive before the paperwork, we'll just do ours at the hospital.
If you do not want maternal blood drawn, there are other ways to donate for research purposes that don't actually put your baby's cord blood on the registry. In our town, you can also donate to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. They tend to get a lot more donations for research purposes because it doesn't involve a maternal blood donation... so I feel like I'd rather have our stem cells go to saving a life!
I'd assume that you have to be near a big cancer center to take advantage of research donations, such as MD Anderson, Dana Farber or St. Judes... but that's only an educated guess.
I called our local cord blood bank to see if they could help me donate even though my hospital is not affiliated with the program. They said they unfortunately could not because the staff trained to not taint the blood (I am paraphrasing her words here so probably butchering them somewhat!) is only at their approved hospital. However, she gave me a website that may have some additional information to help someone like me who would like to donate but is not specifically giving birth in a hospital affiliated with a bank. It is disappointing to want to do this, not necessarily privately bank our cord blood but donate it, and find that there are so few hospitals in our area (or nationwide for that matter) that facilitate this. The woman with whom I spoke with at the initial bank said they are expanding. Here's hoping that this list expands rapidly in the future!
http://www.parentsguidecordblood.org/
From the website: "...you can only donate your child's cord blood if the baby is delivered in a hospital associated with a collection program. There are less than 200 collection centers in the US, mostly at large hospitals which deliver thousands of babies per year. There are also some banks which accept a limited number of mail-in donations..."
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I was just watching tv and saw the commercial about saving cord blood. We aren't ttc yet, but it has me intrigued. Is anyone doing this? Anyone have an opinion on whether or not its worth it? Is it expensive? Just curious about it :)