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I saw this story today on umbilical cord blood uses and wondered if you donated your child's umbilical cord for research. According to the story, that is not controversial like other stem cell research. I don't think anyone every asked me if I wanted to donate for free. I just got all the brochures about paying hundreds of dollars a year to store the umbilical cord blood for future use.
From ABC: Umbilical cord blood is being studied at the blood bank in St. Louis. If at one point in time you needed a stem cell transplant for a malignancy that bank of stem cells from the cord blood would be used to find an ideal match for you. While the collection happens after a baby is born, we're told this is not at all associated with the controversial early stem cell issue.
The controversy lies more with fetal stem cells. When we collect cord blood, we use adult stem cells not fetal stem cells-even though it's a newborn. The hope is the new program at Saint Luke's hospital in Missouri will help the need for minority donors. A patient who's African American, Hispanic, Asian, who needs a stem cell transplant, is less likely to find a match.
The donations to be handled here at the hospital are for public use. Like those gathered at a blood bank, they go to any patient who needs them.
And that might be an adult or child, a patient with leukemia, sickle cell anemia, or an immune deficiency to name a few. That collection program at Saint Luke's starts on December 1st.
Did you donate your umbilical cord for stem cell research? Why or why not?
-NewsAnchorMom Jen
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