Donating Cord Blood Answers

From Susan Hovey at OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria, IL:

"All mothers’ are asked if they are planning to do cord blood banking or donation. If they indicate they are not doing either – we ask if they want us to dispose of their cord blood or if they are interested in donating. There is an entry in our admission profile in IDX that the nurse asking this information documents the patient’s response.

There are 2 situations that a mother would be asked this. One is by one of ‘the-two Sues”. We are RN’s in Labor and Delivery that call all mothers who have a prearranged Cesarean Section or Induction. The other scenario is when an unscheduled mother is admitted to the Family Birthing Center. At that point, the admitting nurse asks her if she is banking or donating cord blood. The only thing the mother does for donating cord blood is give verbal permission for us to collect.

Peggy Mankin (309) 671-8447, the coordinator at University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria for the research grant for collection of cord blood needs to be called. If the patient’s situation is such that she has been unable to call Peggy, she can give permission to the nurse. We notify Peggy and she comes to the hospital to get permission from the mother. The medical team at delivery does all the paperwork, collection and contacting of Peggy to indicate we have received a donation, There are no fees of any kind incurred from the donor or the hospital. The donor does not have to ‘jump through any hoops’ to participate in such a valuable donation."

I talked to Peggy about how the cord blood is being used. She says basically the main project they've been working on for the last three years is cancer. They are using stem cells from cord blood to track down and kill brain cancer cells. It has been working really well in mice. The second project is repairing spinal cord injuries in rats. The animals with spinal cord injuries are now using their limbs again. She says it has been very successful and she expects human trials to begin on this project first. UICOMP is also working on cardiac repair. Peggy said, "We treat the animals with a stem cells to repair the heart muscle itself." Most of know when you have a heart attack, that dead tissue cannot be repaired. This would great for so many people.

If you have any other questions about donating stem cell cord blood, post a comment and I will get you an answer.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Methodist Medical Center's new online healthcare program, MyMethodist eHealth, is a proud sponsor of this blog post. MyMethodist eHealth is the secure link to your doctor's office that lets you request appointments, order prescription refills, update your personal health record, and more. Sign up for MyMethodist eHealth here.

Umbilical Cord Blood

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

Methodist Medical Center's new online healthcare program, MyMethodist eHealth, is a proud sponsor of this blog post. MyMethodist eHealth is the secure link to your doctor's office that lets you request appointments, order prescription refills, update your personal health record, and more. Sign up for MyMethodist eHealth here.