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Cord Blood Benefits
January 8, 2008 |
Aimee Handy will soon welcome her first child into the world. “We’re very surprised
and very excited,” she says. Since she found out she was pregnant Aimee has been
learning everything she can about motherhood and birth. She says she’s researched
everything from strollers to vaccinations. Now Aimee has added umbilical cord blood
to her list of research topics. Dr. Craig Macarthur is a hematologist at the Children’s
Hospital of Southwest Florida. He says the process of collecting cord blood is fairly
simple. “After they clamp the cord and the baby’s removed you can collect cord blood
cells from the placenta side of the connection. It contains a lot of very immature
pro-gender cells which can be used to constitute an entire bone marrow in a human
being. “Physicians say because it’s rich with those cells cord blood can be used
to treat types of cancers that cannot be cured by chemotherapy. “This is just one
more thing to add to the list of concerns a new mom would have especially if you
don’t know a complete history of your family’s health,” says Aimee. While physicians
say the chances are slim that your cord blood could help treat your own child, the
blood can be used to help sibling, other children, or even adults fight certain
types of cancer. “The cure comes from the graft or the cord blood attacking the
leukemia cells and killing them. That only happens if it’s from a different human
being,” says Dr. MacArthur. Aimee says that’s one reason she’s not ruling out the
possibility of donating her cord blood. “So if it appears that he’s just fine and
healthy why wouldn’t I want to be able to donate that to somebody else who’s in
need of it?” You can save your cord blood through a private bank or donate to an
organization like the National Cord Blood Program. Talk with your ob/gyn or a hematologist
about the process of saving or donating your umbilical cord blood.
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