Seeking Advise on Whether or Not to Store Cord Blood

I decided not to store my childrens cord blood, because there are risks involved. I wish I could remember what they were, but when we considered it I was prego with my 18 mth old son. I deff. want to go through and study up on it again and write again if you wouldn't mind
S.

I had a homebirth with my second son and started reading about cord blood in preparation for it. I stumbled across some articles about it that made sense. Basically, they said that if the cord blood is so miraculous and wonderful, then why aren't we letting the baby get it at birth? Why are we cutting the cords before it pumps that last bit of blood to the baby? It made me wonder if there was some reason for that cord to still be puslating after birth. So, we waited to cut the cord until it stopped pulsating, it was only a couple of minutes later.

Hi! We stored my sons cord blood and probably will do it again with our daughter who is due at the end of August. I look at it this way: for $1700 (apx.) you can store cells that can cure 70-90 different childhood cancers and diseases and this cord blood lasts them a lifetime. Lets say that your child gets Parkinsons or has a paralyzing spinal injury. Well guess what?? Cord blood can undo all that. Even though in a way I cannot justify the amount, I am satisfied knowing I did JUST IN CASE!!!!!!!!
I have a contact for you and a $250.00 off referral card if you'd like. . .

L.

we have donated our cord blood. We just couldn't justify the cost of storing it ourselves forever, for a "maybe" we'll use it.

Our family has no history of any diseases that would warrant cord blood storage. For us, it was too much money for something like that. We opted instead for donation to the public bank. If you decide to not bank privately I strongly encourage you to consider this. It's a wonderful gift you could give some family and it is so easy to do (and free!)

Some hospitals (though not many in Michigan yet) have their own program. We used an outside company. They sent all the materials we needed, the nurses did the collection, then the company sent a courier right to the hospital for pickup.

If you have any questions, please email me.

Good luck with your decision!

A nurse who taught my childbirth class told us that current research does not show that storing the cord blood is beneficial. She also stated that some studies have even found that using these stem cells from an infant have never been tried, and can be very risky for the patient they are used on. Obviously I am not a doctor or nurse, this is simply what I have been told/researched. I would do whatever you feel is best for your baby.

The research that I did indicated that it was not reasonable to store it unless you have a family history of some of the diseases that it can help cure. I decided to donate because we don't have a history of any of those diseases, but thought that someone could use it. However, with my first child we didn't decide until it was too late to arrange. If you are considering it, get listed with a bank, and make sure that you don't have to pay anything until after the procedure is done, or... if you are donating it, then contact one of the agencies immediately. My hospital doesn't participate since it is a Catholic owned and operated facility, but they allow doctors to collect it and send it to a storage facility. The problem with this is getting the kit that is needed, it takes time to arrange! We weren't able to do it with her because I started the process tol late in pregnancy, they couldn't get the paperwork done in time... in fact I couldn't find anybody that was even willing to try to get it done in time.

mu husband and I did do it for my son and will be doing it again for my daughter. We found that it was well worth it to us and invauluable to hold onto, once its gone its' gone. The fact is we don't know if we will ever need it and hope we never do but it feels nice to know its there just in case. If your husband is concerned about the money aspect I understand. The first time fee is expensive roughly 1400. What we did is we had people contibute to the cord banking fund to pay it for it. Especially since we have everything we need for the baby, this has worked well this time. The yearly isn't too bad it's 95.00 a year. Which we haven't had to pay for yet. If you refer others you get that year free. So because we know so many people pregnant and who have done it we have yet to pay. Also most places give money off if you pay for it in advance in 1 5 to 10 year bulk. we used Viacord and they have been great. Check out there website or call them they will be more then happy to answer any questions and they will send out a information packet for you and your husband to look at. Good Luck with your decsion I hoped this helped. I am really glad we did it! have any questions pleas feel free to contact me.

Hi T.
We have done this for our first child. I agree if you have the extra money why wouldnt you. If something should happen you have the storage. We are still deciding on doing this for my daughter. It is alot of money but I agree its well worth it. We went through lifebankusa.com. If you have any other questions please ask.

I agreee with your husband that storing cord blood for your own use is a waste of money. If you deliver at a hospital that participates in a public cord blood bank - I would donate the cord blood to the public bank for storage.

I have seen that the storage for your own potential use is about 1500 and I believe there are yearly fees to continue to keep the blood frozen.. Currently we do not know how long the cord blood can be frozen. We have no idea how long it is good for. There is a very small chance that your child will need the cord blood for transplant. AND- there are some types of cancers that they would not give her the cord blood becuase the cancer could be in the stored blood.

There is a lot we dont know about cord blood and stem cells. It is a developing science. I would not spend the money on storage- I believe that the ob/gyn and the pediatricians have siad that it is not recommended.

I will tell you I wish I had done it with my son. I had same reservations about it that you and your husband had and thought well I can do it with my second child and that would probably be enough in case anything happen to either of them. Well it's 5 years later and I recently found out I probably won't be able to have any more childrenthan my one son. The one reason I really wish I had done something previously is because I got breast cancer last year. Now the licklyhood my son would get it is very small but we have never had a history of any kind of cancer in our family and now I have it. I know I would feel a lot better now if I knew my son's cord blood was stored in case he did get any kind of cancer or anything else. One reason I didn't do it was because I thought " we don't have a family history of cancer" but that has changed now. I also wish I had more life insurance on myself because now getting it even though I am clear is going to be next to impossible. Cancer can really change your life not only physically but in so many other ways you don't think about till it happens. I think storing the cord blood will give you a piece of mind and that can be worth a million bucks. The technology is getting so much better everyday I think they will be able to cure more and more with those precious cord stem cells. Hope this helps you in this very hard decision.

We did not store our daughters but i wish we would have. My oldest daughter has a friend who found out she has leukemia & nobody in her family is a match. If she would have that it would be no problem. If u can afford it, i would do it. I wish we did because u never know.

We decided to store both our children's cord blood - it was much cheaper then, but we felt it was worth it at any cost. Our feelings were just strengthened when we had a friend with an 11-year old boy diagnosed with Leukemia (sp?)...had his family stored his cord blood, they would have and could have used it. They, like a lot of us, never had any family history of disease or any problems, so if we based our decision on that alone, we wouldn't have stored either.

I feel that if I am ever, God forbid, in that situation, I take comfort knowing that the stem cells match will be exact for both of my kids. The boy with leukemia needed stem cells and kept rejecting the ones donated becuase they are not 100% matches, when it comes to your own stem cells - they would have been used because it was before the leukemia was in his system and would have matched with no rejection....of course, I'm not a doctor, but this is what we were told - hope this helps!!

Good luck and God Bless!

I highly recommend it!! Why wouldn't you? If something ever happened to your child, God forbid, and you knew you could have done something so simple to save his/her life, and you didn't, wouldn't you feel horrible?
We did it with both children. Hopefully we will never need it, but it's nice to know it's there if we do.
We used Viacord and were very pleased. I highly recommend them. You can call them and they will explain exactly how it works and the diseased they can cure using it. Make the call!! It's the best money I've ever spent. It also isn't that much.

I decided it was to expensive to store it. But we did decide to donate it. I think if enough people opt to donate the cord blood then if we even need it for any reason that they will be a match for whomever needs it in our family.

The research I did said that there was actually a very small chance that your baby's cord blood could even be used on that baby. It is more like to accommodate another child. I don't know why. But we opted out, it was too expensive and no guarantee that it would work.

I agree that the price is pretty high, my hubby and I decided to donate the cord blood when our baby comes. It's free although there is no guarantee we will be able to use it when we need to, but somebody else's life may be saved because of it. Check with your doctor to see if the hospital you are delivering at accepts donated cord blood. We are having our baby at Providence and they do have a donation program.

We stored our son's cord blood. It is just a great insurance policy. Think of it like car insurance. How many millions of people pay for car insurance and never use it or need it? But that one time you need it.....? Are you willing to not pay for car insuarance because you don't think you will ever need it? We went with Viacord and are perfectly happy with them.

I am currently 8 months pregnant as well. We have decided to bank our sons cord blood. The chances may be low that you will need it in the future but the regret would be horrible. They are coming out with new breakthroughs regarding stem cells and you never know how many diseases they may help treat 20 years from now. They have recently been shown to treat diabetes in small animals. If you decide to bank the cord blood, don't just go with the company that has the most advertisements. Did you know that Viacord is financially unstable and has been losing money every year? We have narrowed it down to two companies based on cost, storage method, accredidations, location of storage banks, financial stability, amount on time they have been banking cord blood, etc. A great website to look at (it even has a questionaire you can use) is parentsguidecordblood.org

T.,
Deciding to store cord blood can be likened to purchasing an insurance policy. There are many things that you should consider before investing the money to do this. The cord blood banks will store the cord blood from your birth but there are no guarantees that the sample will be adequate (ie; have a high enough cellular count to use it medically). However, in time, scientist may have the ability to grow additional stem cells from your existing sample. Did you know that you can donate your cord blood to the local blood bank free of charge? Banking or donating your cord blood is your decision and only you can decide what is best for your family. I have two children and I donated both of their cords. Little did I know at the time that my gift would come full circle when we needed it for our second son. He recieved his cord blood stem cells back this past November in an effort to help him with his cerebral palsy (which we didn't detect until he was 18 months old). Thankfully, we are seeing a remarkable difference in him! While we are greatful that the public bank still had his stem cells (they don't keep all of the donations) the likelyhood that you would need it back is probably slim. I hope I haven't made this response too confusing but I would urge you to do something with your cord blood. Bank it or keep it but don't throw it out!! You can find more information at www.parentsguidecordblood.com.

Hi T.,
We decided to store our daughters cord blood. You just never know. My husband is a cancer survivor, he had leukemia when he was 27 years old. He was lucky that they caught it and put him into remission right away. If it came to it, he would have needed a stem cell transplant. Nobody would have matched him like himself. It was a no brainer when our daugher was born. Can you imagine how aweful it would be if she got a disease that could be cured with stem cells and we didn't bank them? I couldn't live with myself. Money is secondary to your baby's well-being. We used Cryocell and they couldn't have been nicer. If you go to their website, they have success stories for you to read.

Good Luck to you and congratulations on your baby girl!

Well, my husband and I were thinking about this same subject but after talking to our OBGYN we decided not to. He said he's worked in a lab and he says what these people want for you to store the blood is highway robbery. He says it should be illegal for them to do this unless they have a more reasonable financial plan. Also he says it's a shame these companies are more in it for the money and taking advantage of people in your situation. So I guess what I'm trying to say here is that my husband and myself and my doctor are for the idea of saving the blood because of the help that it could possibly give but the financial investment at this point isn't worth it for something that might or might not ever happen.

We are donating to a public bank, it is just too expensive to bank it otherwise vs the chance of needing it/using it. If there is a public bank now, then you could always put in for that if you needed some for your child down the road, especially if you donated to help another child. Kinda like blood in my mind.
C.

Hello T. -
We decided to store it. We felt we were making an investment in our daughters health & possibly our own. Our family history includes several diseases Science has already figured out can benefit from the use of Cord Blood. That's today. Who knows what more they can discover. We went with ViaCord. The annual storage cost breaks down to something like 25 cents per day. I encourage you to look at ViaCords website or call them. If you decide not to store for personal use ask your OB/GYN &/or Hospital if they have a bank & you could donate it.

Hi T. -

I have a 5-month old son and originally, we were going to bank his cord blood. We bought the kit and had it packed for the hospital. After talking with my OB though, we decided against it. If you have a medical reason (family history of cancer etc.), I think there definitely is benefit in storing it....if not, then my doctor implied that the cost outweighed the benefit.

I am not sure of the specifics, but there are certain rules/laws in Michigan...I want to say, but am not certain, that they don't do procedures with it here. You would have to go out of state to use it. Also, there are only certian illness it can help with and it is not every case that you could use it for other family members. I am sorry, I don't remember the specifics. I know people who have done it, but don't know anyone who has needed to retrieve it.

Like anything, I think there are pluses and minuses either way. I would just be sure and research it completely so you can make a decision and be sure.

Good luck and congratulations!!!!