Here is a very short article about a topic I am quite passionate about, umbilical cord blood. Several major hospitals in our area have teamed with the blood bank to collect and store the stem-cell rich cord blood and donate it to individuals in need through a national registry. Now something that is typically discarded can instead save lives — magnificent.
“Donate cord blood and save a life”, BabyMap, Spring/Summer 2005, page 4
[Note: Because this ran in the Postings section, it was not archived on the ParentMap web site, so there is no link to an online version. Sorry!]
3 thoughts on “Tiny article, but extremely important”
What about letting it go into the baby? I’ve read that babies thrive better if they receive the cord blood.
Marj Watkins
You’re absolutely right. Doctors shouldn’t clamp the cord until it stops pulsing, so that the baby gets as much as it can. This is true whether the cord blood is being collected or not. After the cord is clamped, there is usually plenty of blood left over for banking.
Hi Laurie,
After you replied to me from a yahoo group we have in common, I visited your site. I found this article helpful to me in the sense that one day, my daughter Breanna, whom is paralyzed from an MVA, will likely more than not, benefit from these stem cells. Her spinal cord injury was devistating, and yet there’s so much controversy on the topic of stem cell cloning. Great article, awareness is key. 🙂
Tamara M. Regan
Author — Breanna’s Story
http://www.brpf.com