Umbilical Cord Blood

Cord blood is one of the best treatments to fight blood related diseases.  It is quite common now for parents to store umbilical cord blood when their baby is born.  By storing the baby’s cord blood, they always have the option of using that blood for treatment should they require it at any time.

why store cord blood

Diseases like leukemia take too many lives and many people struggle to overcome such diseases.  Such diseases don’t discriminate against the young or the old; it can affect anyone of any age including young children, teenagers and adults.  This type of disease can strike at any time in life without warning and in many cases can be quite difficult to overcome.

There are public cord blood banks that have cord blood stored for use by anyone that requires it, however the patient must be a match to the blood and finding a match can be difficult.  People can become desperate to save a loved one’s life and will try to alert others in the hope that someone may donate blood that will be a match to their loved one.

There is a good chance that you will never develop a blood related disease and never need to use cord blood treatment, however if you should develop a disease it is best to have that cord blood stored so you have the best chance of fighting the disease.  Even though there are costs involved in storing cord blood, it is a small price to pay for a treatment that may save your Childs life.

You might be happy to put money into an investment in the hope that one day it will pay off and earn you a profit.  Shouldn’t you also be happy to put money into an investment in life?  A small investment in fees to store cord blood can pay huge dividends if one day it saves your child’s life.

There are regulations in place to ensure that cord blood collection is all done to standard and this is enforced by the FDA.  Blood banks, both private and public, can become accredited and if they choose to become accredited then you can research them through the association and determine whether they are a reputable blood bank.

Cord blood is being used to treat diseases such as leukemia, but as more study is being done on the benefits or cord blood it is becoming apparent that it may be useful in treating other diseases such as Type 1 diabetes and stroke.

If you are considering donating or storing cord blood you should do your research and be prepared before the baby is born to make that decision.  The process of collecting the cord blood is very fast and painless and needs to be done immediately after birth.

You may decide to store the cord blood privately so that your child can have it ready to use if they ever need it.  If your family has high risk to certain genetic disorders then it may be best to store the cord blood privately.  If you don’t wish to store the cord blood privately then you can donate the blood to a public cord blood bank for donation to anyone that needs it.  Donating cord blood to public cord blood banks does not cost you any money.

Choosing to store your baby’s cord blood could be a choice of giving your child not just the best chance at beating a blood disease, but in some cases, the only chance of beating a blood disease.

There is no point waiting until cord blood is needed and then wishing you had made the choice to store your child’s cord blood.  Hindsight will not help your child fight a serious disease.  Some blood disorders and some types of cancer are very difficult to beat and cord blood is the best chance of doing that.  So why should you store umbilical cord blood?  Because one day it may just save your child’s life!