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Ask the doctor... “I’m pregnant and may be interested in donating my baby’s cord blood to someone who needs a bone marrow transplant. What’s involved?” Donating cord blood is a painless procedure that is safe for both mother and child. After a baby is born, the placenta and umbilical cord are usually thrown away. However the cord blood inside the placenta contains stem cells that are capable of producing healthy bone marrow when transplanted into a patient who needs a bone marrow transplant. By donating cord blood, you increase the odds that someone with a life-threatening disease can be cured. Cord blood is collected after the child has been born and the umbilical cord has been clamped and cut. Collecting cord blood does not interfere with the routine care a mother and child receive before, during and after childbirth. Cord blood donors are carefully screened to insure that they or their spouses have no family history of, and have not been exposed to diseases that might be transmitted through cord blood. A sample of the mother’s blood is also tested for infectious diseases. No blood is drawn from your child for use by the cord blood bank. Although interest among expectant mothers in donating their baby’s cord blood for public use is on the rise, it’s often hard to find a cord blood bank that’s able to accept the sample. A few regional blood banks accept donations from a specific geographic area, but even those sometimes have more volunteer donors than they can process, says Joanne Raymond, who facilitates patient searches for cord blood donors. The Chicago Community Cord Blood Bank, an affiliate of the University of Chicago Hospitals, accepts cord blood from qualified donors delivering their baby at a hospital in the Chicago metropolitan area (a 50- to 75-mile radius of the hospital). Approximately 40 cord blood samples are collected and banked each month. Qualified mothers may donate their baby’s cord blood at no cost. For more information call 773-702-2871. The St. Louis Cord Blood Bank is affiliated with Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital and St. Louis University. Cord blood donations are accepted from qualified donors within a 150-mile radius of St. Louis who deliver their babies at one of 38 participating hospitals in the St. Louis/Southern Illinois area. The bank collects and stores several hundred cord blood samples for public use each month at no cost to the donor. For information about this program phone 314-268-2787. The American Cord Blood Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center accepts cord blood donations from New England residents. To learn more about their program, call 508-756-3076. The Cord Blood Registry in San Bruno CA accepts cord blood donations for public use from donors living anywhere in the U.S. The number of cord blood donations they’re able to accept each month varies according to the funding available to process the samples. Currently, they accept 20 to 40 cord blood samples per month. For information phone 888-267-3256. Other cord blood banks, such as the New York Blood Bank, also collect cord blood samples for public use. However, they restrict their donors to mothers who are delivering a child at one or two specific hospitals. Public cord blood banks usually accept donations only from single birth deliveries. Most require that both mother and father be able to provide a complete medical history about themselves, as well as certain medical information about their relatives. This information is necessary to protect cord blood recipients from serious transmittable diseases.
If you are interested in donating your child’s cord blood, contact a registry early in your pregnancy so that all necessary medical information and authorized consent may be obtained before delivery. The cord blood bank will provide you and your obstetrician the information and materials necessary to properly collect the sample. In addition to public cord blood registries, several private cord blood banks exist for the purpose of collecting and storing cord blood for family use. According to one such bank, Viacord, some insurance companies are now paying the cost of private cord blood collection and storage if another family member has a malignancy or genetic blood disorder and may be in future need of a bone marrow or stem cell transplant. To learn more about the various cord blood banks that will store your baby’s cord blood for personal use, contact the International Cord Blood Foundation at 800-588-6377. |
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