I've been reading a lot about stem cell research the past couple of days and the benefits of cord blood banking. DH and I definitely believe stem cell treatment could be the future and I see huge potential in it. So I was curious if any of you had any experience with this and if it's worth the money? I researched what it would cost in Denmark, and it's quite a lot of money. So I want to hear some thoughts about it before we decide to go for it
Re: Has anyone considered cord blood banking?
Not every hospital has a donation bank, and not every state has a donation bank. BUT, there are private, for profit organizations that will send a collection person to you in the hospital within a few hours and pick it up. Yes it's for profit, but its still available to the general public to those who 100% need it NOW, instead of an extremely slim chance (like minuscule) that your child or a sibling may need it in the future. Plus as I said, usually if an individual needs cord blood for any reason, they can't use their own. (Why don't they put THAT in the pamphlets?)
My hospital and my dr waived the cord blood collection fee since we were donating it. If you decide to donate I suggest you bring that up to your doc. I also informed my Drs entire office of who we went through, they'd never heard of it and we're so glad to know about it.
The organization we used was lifebank USA. However, if donation is something you're consider, please check with your hospital and state first to see if they have a government funded bank. Also feel free to tag or message me with any questions. My sister is a dr and sent me some peer reviewed literature that helped us decide it was a waste for us to bank, and I can share that as well. We did have to register I believe 8 weeks before due date (just a time frame to keep in mind).
Edited for spelling. I have got to start proofing my responses, especially while mobile.
@NachosAndPeaches I'd love to read the literature so I can show it to my husband as well! Thanks a lot!
After reading the literature from @NachosAndPeaches (thank you by the way!) and various websites I can see that is not the case.
See, it proves my point above. It's the money-making marketing.
This. Most people aren't reading/have access to peer reviewed journal articles (yay pay walls!). The general public hears about crazy science like growing a human ear on the back of a rat or say turning stems cells into functioning heart cells. What they don't hear is that it worked a handful out of hundreds of tries or that yes stem cells can be differentiated, but there are any number of things that are being researched to work out in order to make them a truly viable therapy option for a multitude of problems. If you think about it, you don't hear too much about stem cell breakthroughs today. 10-15 years ago they were a pretty hot topic. That should tell you something about what everyone thought they were going to be able to accomplish and what they can.
Marketing is key for research funding. As someone who's salary is paid off of grants, it's a necessity to keep research going. Whenever we start thinking about a new project it always comes down to is anything patentable and is anything clinically relevant.
That all being said, I am in no way discounting the benefits of stem cell therapy. That goes with the pro public banking. I just think there are a lot of people that need to understand that regrowing an organ from your own stem cells or curing all the diseases is not something we or our children are likely to see happen.
Research in this field for other diseases is ongoing and promising, but still SO far from clinical applications. Stem cells can over proliferate and become tumors too, so a lot of the research nowadays is about how not only to make a stem cell become the cell you want, but also how to control their proliferation so it causes regeneration and doesn't cause a tumor. This is why I say that the far, far, far majority of ppl won't need their own stem cells In their lifetime.
If you donate to a bank, however, someone else can benefit, and perhaps even your child. But the private storage of stem cells is more of a business than a medical utility right now.
I actually don't know whether chord stem cells are any better than new bone marrow stem cells. My instinct tells me they would behave similarly, but I do not know the answer.