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Molly Nash's life was saved by a stem cell transplant
from cells obtained from her new brother's placenta.
Baby Adam never received a shot or was ever in any danger
during the donation of cells to his sister.
"The stem cells came from the placenta. Typically,
the placenta is considered medical garbage, yet donating
cord blood can save lives. When you receive prenatal
care, you should ask if you can donate the stem blood
from your placenta," Molly and Adam's mother, Lisa
Nash, said.
Stem cells are found primarily in three sources: bone
marrow, peripheral blood and umbilical cord blood. Cord
blood is rich with stem cells. The stem cells can differentiate
into other cells types including bone, heart, muscle
and nerve. It is believed that newborn cord blood stem
cells are proliferative and less likely to be contaminated
with viruses than adult stem cells.
Many nurses and parents are not aware that they may
have a choice about saving the umbilical cord after
the baby is born. Cord blood can be banked by the family
at a cost of about $1,000 for processing, a $300 enrollment
fee and a $100 annual storage fee for possible future
personal use by the infant or a family member.
In some parts of the country, cord blood can be donated
at no charge to a cord blood registry or for use by
other families or for research. To date, many siblings
have received cord blood transplants. By saving cord
blood for possible use or by donating cord blood to
a cord blood bank, lives can be saved.
"There is controversy about using embryos for
stem cell research, but there are no ethical issues
involved in cord blood," said Sandra Wolf, MSN,
RN, former cord blood educator for the Cord Blood Registry.
"If we could bank everybody's cord blood, there
would be no need for research on embryos.
"When using cord blood, there's no pain involved,
no risk to mom or baby. It just takes a couple of minutes.
Research is showing more and more uses for cord blood.
Who knows what they are going to find for uses in the
next 20 years."
Donating cord blood is not a complicated process. "The
parents typically know in advance that they want to
save the blood and bring a collection kit to the delivery,"
Wolf said. "All the nurses have to do is collect
the blood from mom and the placenta. The mother then
takes the kit back to her room and has it sent overnight
to the cord blood bank."
In addition to parents saving cord blood for personal
use, the National Institutes of Health has numerous
studies being performed using cord blood stem cells
for research. One study sponsored by the National Heart,
Lung, and Blood Institute is evaluating whether unrelated
donor umbilical cord blood stem and progenitor cell
units are a clinically acceptable alternative to bone
marrow transplantation.
Contact
Carol Lindsay at carol@lindsay.net.
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