UMBILICAL CORD BLOOD --- a Life-Line for a Lifetime

Umbilical cords are routinely thrown away every day. Most parents don’t realize that the blood left in the umbilical cord contains stem cells that have been used successfully to treat more than 70 different diseases including leukemia and lymphoma. Gradually more Canadian parents are choosing to store their baby’s cord blood stem cells for their own family’s use at a company like “Cells for Life” or they are donating it for research or for others to use at “Victoria Angel Registry of Hope”.

ETHICS and RELIGION: Unlike the debate surrounding the use of embryonic stem cells, there are no ethical or religious issues associated with the collection/ use of cord blood stem cells. All faiths accept cord blood stem cells as an ethical treatment (except Jehovah Witness who object to the use of all blood products).

MOM USES BABY’s CORD BLOOD IN LEUKEMIA TREATMENT: In 2001, Patrizia Durante was pregnant when a routine prenatal test showed that she had leukemia. Her baby’s cord blood was stored. Patrizia endured 213 blood transfusions, 9 bone marrow biopsies and chemotherapy. After a two-month remission, her leukemia was back. Doctors searched for a matching bone marrow donor but none could be found. When doctors told her that she would die, Patrizia reminded them that they could use the cord blood. A five-minute transfusion of the cord blood was all it took. Within several weeks, her blood showed signs of improvement. Patrizia is now cured and her 8-year old daughter is a happy, healthy girl.

PARENTS HAVE CHOICES: Parents can choose to donate their child’s cord blood to a public cord blood bank like Victoria Angel Registry of Hope in Toronto. The donated samples are dedicated to research or are stored for other people to use for medical treatment. Pre-registration is required prior to 34 weeks of pregnancy.

Alternatively, parents may choose to store their child’s cord blood for their own family to use in the future should the need arise. This process is very simple. Parents register with Cells for Life in Toronto and are provided with a collection kit that they take to the delivery room. After the baby is born and the umbilical cord is cut, a health professional collects the cord blood using the kit. “The procedure takes less than five minutes and there is no risk or discomfort to the mother or baby” states Obstetrician Dr. Michael Virro. The kit is shipped back to the laboratory where the stem cells are separated from the rest of the blood, carefully frozen and stored. Parents pay for the kit and initial processing (three installments of $300) then pay an annual storage fee of approximately $125 per year. Although Cells for Life can accept new clients within a few days of the delivery, clients should receive their collection kits much earlier in case early labour begins.

USES: These remarkable cells have been used thousands of times to successfully treat over 70 different diseases. In Japan, more than 80% of all transplants include cord blood stem cells and in the USA, they are used in more than 50% of all transplants. These cells have also been used following intensive chemotherapy or radiation therapy in cancer treatment. Research is directed toward use in Heart disease, Cerebral Palsy, Stroke, Diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis and Spinal Cord injuries. The stem cells can be used for the baby or for relatives because an exact match is not required (as is the case with bone marrow transplants).

These cells are too valuable to discard in the medical waste. Parents should review their options and either store them for their own family or donate them for others to use.

To inquire about our FREE information sessions and/or tours of a stem cell processing lab, please email us at info@cellsforlife.com or call us at 1 877 235 1997 ext 32 or 905 472 0060 ext 32.

Web www.cellsforlife.com

 

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