Cord Blood - Leavenworth,KS

Hi. I have a son who is almost 5 month, my first child. I was all for saving the cord blood and i did. If you don't pay to save it than donate it. If not than all that happens to it is it gets thrown away,so why do that when you might be able to save someone else. All they do is take some blood from you and the umbilical cord from the baby. I think it is totally worth it!!

Here's a link with pros/cons of collection...public and private.

http://www.mazecordblood.com/private-vs-public.htm

There are certain conditions that can't be treated with the patient's own cord blood, but it could be used for other family members. If you haven't saved your own, the costs of using banked blood is high...not sure what insurance covers. If you are non-white, there's less of a chance you'll find a match in the public bank if you need it. If you donate, it's possible that donation will be available to you if you are in need, but it may also have gone to someone else or been used in research. If you decide not to bank it for your family, please consider donating it (check with your doc that it won't cost you anything)...it doesn't hurt you or the baby, just a little more work for the doc. The more people who donate, the more that can be helped when they need it. Either way, you have to decide before the birth so the doc will have the appropriate kit available. If you will be donating, check with the hospital if there is a bank they use. I'm wondering if you could use your HSA or FSA (medical spending accounts) to purchase the coverage???? I donated with my daughter because of the cost involved with banking, but I would consider banking if we had another. Good luck.

I donated the blood from my second child and then with my third, my OB just came out and told me that's it's pretty useless. There's no need for it, she said. As far as banking it goes, that is even more useless, for most people. Unless you have an unusual genetic problem or disease in your family, it's pretty much a waste of money. Ask your doctor - and try to find something online that isn't written by a company selling the banking service.

As a survivor of Leukemia and a bone marrow (stem cell) transplant I would highly suggest you donate to the national cord blood registry. The chances of your child actually needing this gift is very, very small, however, if donated it would save someone's life, almost guaranteed. Please check out www.marrow.org there is a section on donating cord blood there. Thank you for thinking about this :)

If you decide not to save the blood for yourself, I recommend donating it. I donated the cord blood of both of our children when they were born. You do need to ask your doctor for the paperwork as it has to be filled out (and if I remember correctly turned in) in advance.

We donated all three of our childrens cords for research, there was no public blood donor program at the time. I would like to think that we helped further research in stem cell recovery. If I had the chance to do it now I would private bank. There are almost 80 forms of blood disease that cord blood stem cells has repaired. Google Natalie Curry author of "Cord Blood Saved My Life". Her story is amazing and brings home why we should bank our families cord blood. The cost is around $2,000.00 for the collection kit and lab fees,and about $125.00 per year for storage. I must spend the cost of storage ($125) at Starbucks alone for a year. Banking is the way to go, why throw out what could save a family member in the future

Good Morning K., I never experienced this procedure but I think it is a normal thing to do at most Hospitals now. I heard on the news a few months ago that more Hospital's were now making this a part of there routine in delivery's

If you are wanting this done talk to your OB before delivery so they will know your wishes.

God Bless and Be with you always
K. Nana of 5

Hello ! I work for a cord blood bank and can give you the facts behind the over-promotion. See http://cordadvantage.com/cord-blood-blog/2011/5-straight-... to find 5 Straight Facts About Cord Blood ViaCord / ViaCell and Cord Blood Registry Won’t Tell You.

We paid to have it stored with both kids. The initial cost is around 2,000 and $125 a year to keep it stored. We figured it was insurance for our children. With all the things they can do with it, it's something we thought we needed. Just like any insurance, you hope you never need to use it, but you are sure glad you had it when you do.
If you don't store it, please donate it.
V.

Hello,
I donated the cord blood. If you want to store it talk to your doc or open any pregnancy magizine and there is usually something about a company that will do that. It doesn't hurt or anything. I asked afterwards if the they remembered to get the cord blood. That is how much you don't feel anything and how much it is not a hassle. I am not sure where you live but one of the reasons we donated was because in St Louis is one of the top children's hospital and we just wanted to help. We will do it again with this baby. Sorry I don't have any details on how to store it.

I did it with my first and went through New England Cord Blood Bank (at the time they were one of the most economical ones). The only reason why I did it was because my husband is adopted and from what I can tell both of his biological parents are deceased which means we have no medical records for what may/may not run his his family (which scares the XXX out of me).

My son is now 6 years old and I have to say the yearly storage fee of $150 is starting to get old. It originally was $100 a year and it seems like every year they keep creeping up (so expect that).

There are cord blood banks out there that will take your blood for FREE but it is considered a free for all donation. Frankly, I think THAT is the best way to go. It's economical for you and could at least help someone else who desperately needs it (it's sort of like organ donation b/c the cord blood can be used for luekemia patients, et al. to replace bone marrow).

If you decided to do the Free route you need to hop on it ASAP because they want you registered EARLY EARLY EARLY....most blood banks will consider your registration too late if you are in your third trimester.

They will send you a kit to take to the hospital with you. You need to let your Dr/delivery team know that you are saving the cord blood and give them collection kit as soon as you check in (so they can read through the directions)...they have a very short period of time to collect the blood and get it in the kit before it becomes tainted so time is literally of the essence. Once they collect it they Fed Ex it out the same day.

Frankly, unless you have a mixed race family where matching donors might be difficult to find, if you KNOW you have something genetically running in your family and your child has a high percentage of contracting the disease or if you are like us and have no clue what the genetic background is I question the benefits to the cost ratio. I'd say if I had to do it all over again, I'd do the free donation to the public cord blood banks. I didn't think about it early enough with my second so they wouldn't allow me to do it.

If you've got any other questions, feel free to drop me a line.

We donated both of our kids' cord blood. It is free and is such a huge benefit for the people who have need of it. I really think it's a great blessing to those who need it. There are a lot of cord blood banks around. The one that I used was the Saint Louis Cord Blood Bank. My ob/gyn took the cord blood as the babies were delivered. I did paperwork beforehand, and that was that. The kit was waiting in the delivery room when I got there, and that was that.

Both my kids are biracial and have unique blood types. From what I understand, the types of diseases that they would need cord blood for are incredibly rare, and they are not any part of our family histories. We donated because while they are rare, they do happen, but because they aren't in our family history, there is almost no chance that the boys will get the diseases. I wanted to help those that don't have other options.

If your family has a history of genetic disorders, or cancers where a blood transplant could help then it might be a good idea to have your cord blood stored. When you bank it privately the blood will be:

1) immediately available (sooner the process the better)

2) Contamination free (since the disease most likely wont manifest till later in life)

3) A genetic match (which is important b/c it is not always easy to find one).

These points are all critical when it comes to needing a blood transplant and are not always east to find.

This was not an issue for us so we decided to bank publicly. We didn't want the cord blood going to waste when it could help save someone's life.
Three things to remember when going this route:

1) Ask your hospital if they will collect it for free. They most likely will. If not though you have to arrange the donation with a public bank (this will be done free of charge)

2) It is not an ethical issue. The embryonic stem cells that hear debated about in the news are completely different from the stem cells found in the cord blood.

3) finally, you will not be able to have access to the cord blood after it is donated. The process is completely anonymous.

You also might want to check this site out, it was a great source of unbiased information: http://www.publiccordbloodbanks.org/

Best of luck with your decision, and congrats!

Hi Kristin,
We donated the cord blood from our 2 kids and will do the same with our third. I checked with my doctor and she basically said unless we were having this child to help one of our other children because they had a serious illness, it wouldn't do us good to privately bank it. If you decide to donate it, your doctor's office should have the little card you fill out and submit.

Good luck,
R.