Stem Cell research, and its astounding potential, has been called one of the most important medical breakthroughs in decades. In 1989, cord blood banking was created for the purpose of collecting and storing this invaluable resource.

Why to Save Cord Blood?

1. Cord Blood Banking is a Once-In-A-Lifetime Opportunity to Protect Your Family’s Long-Term Health
Your baby’s umbilical cord blood is a rich source of special blood cells called stem cells. These cells are the body’s building blocks for blood, organs, tissue, and the immune system and are genetically unique to each baby. When you bank your baby’s cord blood, you preserve a unique biological resource that is like a ‘self-repair kit’ for your child and other possible family members.
A growing number of families everyday are choosing to bank their babies’ umbilical cord blood as a potential cure for dozens of cancers, blood disorders, immune and genetic diseases. This is especially true for families that have a history of disease. StemCyte offers many options to help families just like yours afford to save this precious resource.
There are many decisions to make during your pregnancy as well as preparation for the newest addition. Saving your baby’s stem cells should be one of them. Cord blood can only be collected in the first few minutes after birth, so you must make this decision by your 3rd trimester, if not sooner, so that you have your collection kit with you to bring to the hospital. In some instances, you can get a collection kit when you arrive at the hospital. Not all hospitals have this option, so you really should enroll sooner, if possible.

2. Cord Blood Stem Cells Hold the Power to Cure Today
Cord blood provides a rich source of stem cells for use in many situations where bone marrow is considered today. Cord blood stem cells are used in disease treatment to fight over 80 diseases including many forms of malignancies such as leukemia, autoimmune diseases, lupus, and inheritable diseases such as sickle cell anemia.
Doctors have increasingly turned to cord blood stem cells as a life-saving alternative to bone marrow transplants. There is a lower probability of graft vs. host disease (GVHD) and a greater likelihood of finding an appropriate tissue type match because the match does not need to be as exact as for bone marrow.
Stem cell research is exploring new applications for treatment every day. This research may prove effective in the future treatment of many common diseases and injuries that plague today’s society, including spinal cord injury, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, diabetes, and HIV.

3. Cord Blood Stem Cells are Genetically Unique
Your baby’s cord blood cells are a perfect match for your baby, should he or she ever need a stem cell transplant. In technical terms, it is a perfect 6 out of 6 HLA tissue type match, ideal for transplantation. Your baby’s stem cells have a 50% chance of being a match for a sibling. Cord blood stem cells may also be a match for a parent.

4. Bank on the Future of Emerging Research
With successful transplants and breakthroughs in stem cell research occurring every day, more and more expectant parents have chosen to bank their newborn’s cord blood.
Previous odds someone in your family needed a transplant were 1 in 2700. Just a few years later those odds increased to 1 in 400. These odds however, do not include emerging therapies.
Researchers are already studying the effects that cord blood stem cells have on spinal cord injury, brain injury, type 1 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and even HIV. As stem cell science advances, the importance of saving these cells increases exponentially.
Private cord blood banking enables you to store your baby’s stem cells for a guaranteed perfect genetic match with your child. Since cord blood can be stored indefinitely at this point, private cord blood banking is both a safeguard against diseases treatable today and a real hope for more treatment possibilities tomorrow.

5. Your Family History Does Matter
If your family has a history of disease that can be treatable with cord blood, the odds that your baby or their sibling may need a cord blood transplant increases. The number of diseases treated continues to grow with the research efforts of companies like StemCyte. We strongly encourage families to bank cord blood from all of their pregnancies in the event a sibling transplant may be a better or only treatment than an autologous treatment.
Additionally, families with an ethnic or mixed-race background may have difficulty finding a match should they ever need a stem cell transplant. Most public banks have a larger Caucasian volume of cord blood units than any other type. Although StemCyte has one of the largest, most ethnically diverse cord blood inventories in the world. More families are still choosing to save their newborn’s cord blood for peace of mind.

Courtesy: https://www.stemcyte.com