February 2012 Moms

Cord Blood Follow Up

Hello All

 

I was reading through the cord blood discussion and thought I'd share a few things with you all. My husband is an oncologist and specializes in hematology oncology (ie blood cancers, such as leukemia). He works for a leading hospital and is even co-authoring a Hem/Onc text book (which I am so proud of him for!! ) Him and his colleagues do not agree with Via-Cord or cord blood banking. We are lucky enough to have made an informed decision about this topic so I thought Id share his pros/cons with you all:


Pros:

?           It?s possible that decades from now personal cord blood could be used to repair personal organs or tissues that are damaged.  There is no way to know if that type of technology will exist during the lifetime of the baby.

 

Cons:

?           Websites and information are misleading.  Cord blood contains stem-cells.  If your child develops a blood disorder (such as leukemia or other bone marrow failure syndromes) then there is an inherent problem with the child?s stem cells.  You would therefore never give his/her own cord blood stem cells back to her as a treatment.

?           There is no guarantee that the child?s cord blood will be a match for their sibling should a sibling need a stem cell transplant

?           If a sibling needs a stem cell transplant and the child is a match, stem cells can be obtained at a later date by a peripheral collection (similar to donating blood)

?           This procedure and storage is extremely expensive

?           There is no guarantee that the cord blood will be collected properly

?           Anytime cord blood is frozen for preservation, viable cells are lost when it is thawed.  The number of stem cells will be less when thawed compared to when it was collected.  Also, it?s possible that the cord blood cells are not viable to use.

?           The cord blood may not have enough stem cells to use.

I thought you guys might find this interesting to read before you make your decision since its coming from someone who actually works with stem cells on a daily basis. In the end, it?s totally your choice because there is a possibility that this could help sometime in the future. We will probably just end up donating it.

 

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Re: Cord Blood Follow Up

  • Thanks, that's great info!  We donated DD's cord blood and will do the same this time around.  We're lucky to have a local program that takes donated cord blood at the hospital we'll be using, so it's really easy for us to do.  I don't think donation is really an option for everyone.

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  • THank you so much for the info.

    To be honest- it isn't something my husband and I have even brought up but i have done some research of my own and don't think I will be doing it.

     

     


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  • Thank you so much for posting this!!!  I hate that the only information women receive on it is from the people who are making big money off of it. 
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  • thanks for posting this- it's great info to have.
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  • imagejf198400:
    Thank you so much for posting this!!!  I hate that the only information women receive on it is from the people who are making big money off of it. 

    Absolutely agreed -- and a lot of that info seems to me like it's written as fear-mongering and preying on a parent's instinct to protect their child. Ugh.

    ---
    ♥ Married since June 2009 ♥
    TW: Living children & Losses:
    Mom of sons "Alpha" (Feb 2012) & "Beta" (May 2016)
    Pregnant after 4 losses via IVF/FET with daughter "Gamma" (EDD Oct 2, 2019)
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  • Thanks!  My husband is a pediatrician and his opinion was fairly similar to this. 

    He was really disgusted by the pamphlet we got that just preyed on fear.

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  • Thank you so much for this information!  I haven't had any time to do any research other than read the pamphlet we got at our pre-natal appointment.  It is nice to hear some unbiased opinions.
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  • i donated mine as well, but what I didn't realize was the OB charged me for the cord blood collections, which was not covered by insurance.  She lucky reduced it because she knew i was donating it. Not doing that again for this pregnancy...
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  • Please think about donating. I'm an oncology nurse and it saves lives. Children as well as adults can have a chance at being cured from some bad diseases including leukemia.
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