What does everyone think about Cord Blood Banking? I was talking to a friend and they asked me what I thought about this. I went to the Cord Blood Society of Canada website and found the following information. Cord Blood is collected after a baby is safely delivered and it contains a rich source of stem cells. These cells can be used for life-saving and regenerative applications for stem cells and new applications for stems cells are being discovered everyday. What do you think ethically or as a parent/parent to be? Do any of you know, from first hand knowledge or from others who have done this? If so, how did it work?Living close to Alberta I also found a link to the Alberta Cord Blood Bank. You can find a great deal of information here including a pamphlet with great information.
11 comments:
I have heard that the blood is very rarely used and can only be used by that child..my info may be incorrect, it was few years ago that I heard that.
I think it is a great idea if you can afford it and IF it can be used for things other than giving back to your child. I mean it is great if you child needs it, but if your child never does seems like a waste of money. Please understand I have done limited research..I just knew that I couldn't afford it..so my research stopped.
Cord blood can be used for children other than your own. There is a movement now to start anational cord blood bank. I think it is great & am planning to either bank my future baby's cord blood myself or donate it. As a woman with a bleeding disorder I realize that cord blood could lead to life saving cures for so many people and perhaps even my own children.
I do not know anybody who had this done. But I've heard nothing but good things about it. The problem is that it does cost a pretty penny. You usually have to pay yearly. I simply did not have enough money. But if you do, it sounds like it would be worth it!
But my opinion on the subject matter is that it's a major waste of money. Its like an insurance policy where the odds are very very good you'll never need to use it.
I wouldn't mind donating to research or something like that, but I would NOT spend the money to have it cryogenically saved for potential personal uses some time in the far future.
I personally don't think there's anything unethical about it and if I could've afforded it I would have done it. I don't know of anyone who has done it.
We did it. My MIL paid for it. Its a wonderfull technology that can help save millions of lives.
We didn't do it, cos we could not afford it. Also, the doc said it was most beneficial for those with a history of certain conditions in their families.
We wanted to have this done, but rather than for our own son's sake...other babies. Here in Japan it is not possible for those purposes yet.
It is very expensive here too, a few thousand to collect and then a grand or so (from memory) every year it's stored.
So, a worthwhile practice, but not practical for us over here. Research some more and figure out what's right for you :)
Thanks for visiting our blog,
Mel
I will most definitely be doing it.
My aunt has an extremely severe case of parkinsons...cord blood could cure that one day.
diabetes, spinal cord injuries...all sorts of things can be cured.
If a small fee of a few hundred bucks a year could spare my family from suffering the same fate as my aunt, I think its more than worth it.
I did it with my son in 2005. You do have to pay a banking fee and then a yearly fee (the yearly fee is $125--but I can't remember what the one time fee was--I could check if you want to pm me) We did it for peace of mind. However, I will say that I have read some things now that suggest the "life saving" aspects may not be as much as they claim, but none the less I am glad we did it. I don't know if we will do it for our second one though. We were told we would be lucky to have 1 child, so we never thought we would actually get 2, so we are trying to decide now what to do.
Good luck with your decision!
Here's the link: http://www.parentsguidecordblood.com/content/usa/start/index.shtml
It is not affialiated with any blood bank, so the info is pretty much un-biased as it relates to which bank to choose. They have lists comparing blood banks, cost, accreditation, etc. - very helpful. Also info about the banking itself.
A few things that we took into consideration when choosing which bank:
- how long have they been around? (it's a pretty new, but popular, thing to bank cord blood - many new companies are popping up - I wanted one with a good track record)
- where is their storage facility? (I didn't want to select a bank with storage say, in Florida, due to weather risks, etc.)
- how many transplants have they provided? how many were successful? (depending on their collection and storage methods, not all cells will give a successful transplant)
There are many other questions you will want to ask - that link will give you some ideas as to what will be important to you.
The way it works (at least with the company we chose) is, once you sign up and pay a deposit (it was about $150 for us), they send you a collection kit to take with you to the hospital. You make sure that the doc knows you're collecting. When the baby is born, the doctor follows the instructions in the kit, collects and packs the blood and then from there, it's your responsibility to call the courier service to come pick it up asap. It stays by your bedside until the service comes and takes it away to the bank.
Once our blood is collected and they verify that it has a sufficient amount of cells, we will pay the balance (about $1200 - we got a couple hundred discount because of the type of insurance we had, and another couple of hundred off because we signed up early - months before the baby was due). then from there, we pay about $90 per year to keep it in storage for 18 years. I don't think that those numbers are an unreasonable amount of money to pay - we've paid way more than that in medical bills in the past Undecided
another thing to consider is that, for now, the blood you collect will be most beneficial to the child's siblings - not the child itself. So if you only have one child, you really want to do some research - it's changing all the time - but the latest I heard is that they think they may be able to use the cells for the same child once they reach adulthood (the idea here is that if a childhood disease, like leukemia strikes, you can't treat with the same cells that are "programmed" with the leukemia, kwim? But if it's an adult disease, they are close to the technology to make it possible...)
Anyway, I hope that helps you a bit... Smiley
Maggie
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