Banking Our Cord Blood

Now it's time for your public service message. Dave and I (with the generous support of family) have decided to bank our baby's umbilical cord blood. What this means is that at the birth, once Dave cuts the umbilical cord, the doctors will save some of the cord blood in a super-fancy plastic ziploc bag, and then Fed-Ex picks it up and delivers it to a lab in Boston. And then, hopefully, the blood will sit in the Boston lab for the next 25 years without ever being touched. In the off-chance that the baby in born with a genetic disorder or develops a disease during that 25 year time period, the cord blood will provide the necessary stem cells for treatment.

This technology is expanding rapidly - ten years ago stem cells only treated a small handful of diseases, but now they can use the technology in over 40 different cancers, hemoglobin diseases, bone marrow deficiencies, and immunodeficiencies. Current research focuses on heart disease.

The great thing about cord blood banking is that if the donor/baby eventually needs the stem cells, his/her body won't reject them. Also, the stem cells can be used for siblings, parents, or anyone who is related by blood, with a lower incidence of rejection.

There are a number of private companies out there, and we've chosen ViaCord at the advice of our doctor. He recommended them due to their longevity, financial security, and his prior experience with their employees and staff. Some states now have public cord banking, too, but New York hasn't gotten their act together enough for Dave and I to hand them a nice big check.

We are thinking of cord blood banking like life insurance: you don't want to buy it because it's creepy, but you need to buy it because it's necessary. We felt that a couple of hundred dollars a year was worth the peace of mind.