Marla - Can you cofirm?

From: Bruce
Date: 12/31/2003
Time: 3:47:11 AM
Remote Name: 24.59.179.167

Comments

I have been through the IVF site in some detail and the only thing that I think can apply is the following statement re harvesting stem cells from umbilical cord in anticipation of later problems. So for those of us already born, whose parents are gone, and do not have a sibling match, this is not applicable? (Not that I would even consider any kind of BMT or stem cell transplant in today's conditions anyway)

The baby's umbilical cord blood contains stem cells. The stem cells serve as a 'blood factory" and have the capacity to reproduce and to repopulate mature blood cells. Stem cells can become red blood cells, which carry oxygen through the body, white blood cells, which protect the immune system and help fight infections or diseases, or platelets, which aid the body in healing itself. Stem cells are extremely potent, with a single stem cell having the ability to permenantly reconstitute the entire blood production system as well as the entire immune system.

Preserved cord blood stems cells may be considered to be a form of life insurance for your child. This may be especially true if your past or present family members have a history of malignancies like leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma neuroblastoma or non-maligent (often hereditary) diseases like aplastic anemias, XLP, SCIDS, Fanconi anemia, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome or thalassemia.

Preserved stem cells are used in place of bone marrow transplants, and are often preferable to bone marrow.

Stem cells are collected right after the birth of your child in a quick and painless, risk-free procedure, by removing it before discarding. Research indictates these cells can last indefinetly. Each specimen, privately registered and uniquely labeled, can be accessed and retrieved only by you or your child at the age of consent.

It is very important to make a decision related to cord blood storage before the birth of your child. The opportunity to collect and preserve your child's umbilical cord or placenta blood comes, literally, once in a lifetime. If not collected at birth, this irreplaceable source of stem cells would be lost forever.