Medicine :: cord blood saving lives

Isn't it amazing how far medicine has come in the last one hundred years? I was just reading an article about how they are now collecting stem cells right at the dentists office from extracted tooth tissue. It's a very new procedure, so not readily available yet ,but there are other popular options for harvesting stem cells which have been successful in treating disease and saving lives, as well. One such way is through the collection of Cord Blood - blood from your child's umbilical cord when he/she is born. The blood is collected and saved in a cord blood bank like Cryo-Cell International for future use. I first heard about this technology when my daughter in law gave birth to my first grandchild, Aven and she and my son, Josh, banked Aven's cord blood. To best explain it, banking cord blood is like a family insurance policy because cord blood stem cell transplants save lives. The transplants have been used to treat over seventy diseases, including numerous types of malignancies, anemia's, inherited metabolic disorders and deficiencies of the immune system.Whats more, with medicine advancing at such a rapid pace, the new technology may well use these cells to rebuild cardiac tissue, repair damage due to stroke or spinal cord injuries and reverse the effects of such diseases as multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s Disease. My dad died from Parkinson's - if this had been available 30 years ago, maybe he would be playing with his great grandson, Aven, today!

Here's testimonial from one of Cryo-Cell International's clients:

"My children are the most precious gifts that I will ever have and I want to do everything I can to make sure they are well. While I was pregnant with my first child, I would see articles and ads about cord blood and it bothered me that it was so expensive but what if I one day needed this blood. The reality of having only one chance or it really went in the garbage kept me wondering if I would regret not investing. What if he had cancer or his dad or I were sick, would that blood have been the cure? Through research, I came across Cryo-Cell International, Inc., a company with the most reasonable rates and the assurance of two holding facilities.

When I was pregnant with my second child, we wondered if one bank was enough? Finances were tighter and should we spend the money? Then we realized that his brothers blood might not match for the new baby. The next day, stories were breaking about how Cord blood had saved or changed the lives of children, one cancer, one cerebral palsy. Then we discovered that a friend was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma. He didn't bank his daughters blood and wished he had. Three years prior, I lost a friend to renal cancer when she was 29. We felt like it was our answer.

We are just beginning to see miracles that this blood can bring. We have two "life insurance policies", that is how we look at it. If anyone in the family gets ill, there is a chance that the blood could save our lives. If we don't use it, then it is there for our son's children."

Sincerely,
mother of Parker and Davis

Cryo-Cell International Client

( Oh and I forgot to mention, right now, if you enroll at Cryo Cell before 4/19/09 you can get a free Baby Bjorn !Now my little granddaughter Calla, would like that!)

Stuff like this is amazing - what a remarkable time we are living in!