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Cord Blood Shortage
January 23, 2008 |
Everyday thousands of new mothers decide to save or donate
their umbilical cord blood. 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. “It’s a painless
collection for the woman because she’s already gone through the pain and suffering
of delivering the baby this is basically just removing a clamp and collecting what
looks like blood.” Aimee Handy is an
expecting mother. She has put lots
of thought into whether or not she wants to save or donate her new baby’s cord blood. “I’m an organ donor why wouldn’t I want
to be able to help another child having leukemia or something where my son’s cord
blood could possibly help them. I’m not opposed to that.” But physicians
say women like Aimee help make up the majority of umbilical cord blood donations…leaving
minority patients with a very slim selection.
“The people who are white recipients,
if I needed a donation from them I’d have about an 80 percent chance of finding
a donor. In contrast for a Hispanic
donor no more than ten or 20 percent,” says Dr. MacArthur.
He adds that the same statistics apply to African American patients. Because cord blood can help treat cancers
that cannot be cured by chemotherapy…donating it can be a matter of life and death. Dr. MacArthur says, “We need cord blood
donations for your patients, for our patients. They are lifesaving.”
Research shows that cord blood transplants can help both adults and children
fight diseases like leukemia. To learn more about saving or donating umbilical cord
blood, talk with your OB/Gyn or a hematologist.
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