Cord Blood Choice: Private Fears vs. Public Good

[MarisaSF]

I found this article at MSNBC.com to be interesting: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25723984/

We donated DS's cord blood. Our hospital doesn't have its own bank, but Cryobanks sent me a kit and made the donation process pretty easy (http://www.cryo-intl.com/). The article made me feel glad his cord blood could potentially be used to help someone. It also made me feel less guilty about not choosing to privately bank (which could have potentially helped DS or his sister).

From the article:

The vast majority of ... parents — about 97 percent — will do nothing, and the umbilical cord and the cells it contains will be discarded as medical waste.

The tiny fraction that remain, however, will be caught in the sharp debate between private cord blood firms vying to cash in on an estimated $1 billion industry and public registries trying to boost diverse donations to fuel research and save lives in the community at large.

<snip>

Overall, the chance that a publicly stored unit of cord blood will ever be used is about 650 times higher than the odds that a privately banked unit will ever be needed, Confer added.


I don't mean to enter a debate ("sharp" or otherwise :P). I totally understand why someone (especially with a family medical history) would want to privately bank. This article points out the great potential benefits of banking period -- if you don't choose to privately bank, please consider donating!

-Marisa

[lisams]

The hospital my children were born at didn't do donations. I wish it was an option that was available at all hospitals. I've often wondered why it's not something that all of them do, but I also wonder if the banking companies make more off of private banking so there isn't a real incentive for them to get all hospitals on board. It's sad because it's literally painless but potentially life saving.

We privately banked DS's cord blood. DD's went to waste :(

[MarisaSF]

My DD's went to waste too. :( At the time of her birth, nobody told me about donation and privately banking was not something we could afford.

While pregnant with DS, I heard about donation options here on the BBB. :) I brought the kit to the hospital and DH had read up on it so he could explain what needed to be done.

The staff in my delivery room had never used the Cryobanks donation kit before, but they had prepped a lot of cord blood for other (private) banks so they were familiar with what needed to be done.

I should state that neither my OB nor the hospital had given me info about donation. I google searched it :D, found Cryobanks, and arranged for everything myself. My OB and the hospital were willing to use the kit though.

[o_mom]

I wish I had dontated. It was on my mind each time but I never followed through in time. I feel really bad because a friend's grandson was diagnosed with SCIDS (bubble boy disease) this year and recieved a stem cell transplant from donated cord blood. I wish it was as easy as all the other newborn procedures - just ask you at admission and they do it automatically.