Banking cord blood cells for its stem cells is rapidly becoming a standard procedure for many hospitals worldwide. However, the procedure is relatively new, and many expecting parents are faced with a decision whether or not to bank their child’s cord blood cells, despite obvious reasons that they should.
Families with a medical history of diseases curable only with a bone marrow transplant are highly encouraged to bank their child’s cord blood cells. The procedure required to harvest cord blood takes only ten minutes, and processing and storing (cryogenically) the separated stem cells take only fifteen hours maximum. That is a huge difference compared to the process of finding a perfectly matching, bone marrow donor should the situation calls for it.Parents from, or with, a minority or ethnic background, or are adopted, are also highly encouraged to bank umbilical cord blood. Statistically, these people have a very slim chance of finding a bone marrow match, so having their cord blood banked gives them a huge chance of successful treatment should they acquire a life-threatening disease in the future.Parents should decide whether to store their child’s cord blood for his or her own future use (can also be used by family members), or to donate it for public use. It should be noted that when stored for public use, the child’s cord blood will be marked anonymously and cannot be retrieved for personal use. However, it is a generous offer to save someone else’s life.When decided to donate cord blood, parents should research about the cord-blood bank’s financial stability. A stable facility lessens the chance for its donors to transfer to another facility should it close in the future.Fees and maintenance costs charged by the facility should be considered. It is a good idea to know if fees would change in the future, or they are fixed.Certain basic information should be asked from the cord-blood bank, like contracts, or procedures to transfer donated cord blood to a selected facility should the facility closes.Cord blood banking is like a life insurance. A child’s (and family’s) health should not be compromised, and as parents, opting to bank their child’s cord blood is one of the best decisions. Health
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