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Saving umbilical cord blood may end up being a lifesaver
Greensboro News & Record
Triad Classifiedsdeasomeseneral News
21 September 2006
In a hopeful new initiative, Womens Hospital of Greensboro joins a growing number of medical facilities offering mothers the option of donating umbilical cord blood to a public storage bank free of charge.
Donating umbilical cord blood for treating often-fatal diseases is the ultimate in recycling. It saves lives. And theres no risk to the mother or baby. Besides, the blood-enriching cells would have been discarded anyway.
The blood will be sent to the Carolinas Cord Blood Bank at Duke University and stored. Odds are that it eventually will help a patient in need of a life-saving blood transfusion or bone-marrow transplant. Cord blood could prove invaluable in treating blood- related and genetic disorders.
There neednt be qualms about volunteering because safety is assured. And being involved is important because the more samples stored, the better the chance of successful matches. A half-dozen states already have networks to expedite the process __ an idea worth pursuing.
The positive response to umbilical research is in sharp contrast to the furor over experimenting on stem cells from embryos. Both sides in the embryonic stem-cell controversy support saving and using cord blood.
Researchers believe cord blood will play an ever-expanding role in fighting debilitating illnesses such as leukemia and sickle cell. For now, only about 2 percent of all cord blood is stored nationwide, but as that number grows, so will the likelihood of achieving success.
No one believes it is a panacea, but cord blood offers a welcome ray of hope to patients __ often children __ who cant find a bone marrow match. Womens Hospitals participation may exceed 90 percent. If that happens, babies born there may someday benefit from their parents wise choice.
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