Child birth is a very special moment in any parents’ lives. Everything about it is just a miracle part of life. And with the help of medical science, we have found out that babies are born with a precious gift – the Cord Blood.

The Cord Blood, which is the blood that remains in your baby’s umbilical cord after it has been cut, is rich in stem cells. Genetically unique to your baby and family, these valuable cells can only be collected in the minutes after your baby’s birth.

This blood has been typically discarded following delivery. However, medical science has demonstrated to us The Value of Cord Blood.

Compared to other sources of stem cells, such as bone marrow, cord blood stem cells:

• are easily extracted, resulting in no risk or pain for the mother or baby,


• have a high rate of engraftment,


• is more tolerant of tissue mismatches,


• results in a lower rate of severe graft-vs-host disease (a major complication in stem cell transplants), and


• is rarely contaminated with latent viruses (which basically means that the body often accepts cord blood stem cells better than those from bone marrow).

Cord blood are being used in Treating Diseases with Stem Cells, including numerous types of malignancies, anemia's, inherited metabolic disorders and deficiencies of the immune system. Examples of these diseases include Acute Leukemia, Chronic Leukemia, Myelodysplastic Syndromes, Hematopoetic Cell Disorders, Inherited Immune System Disorders and many more. To date, majority of cord blood transplants have been performed in patients less than 18 years old and have been sibling or allogeneic (unrelated third party) transplants.

Just think about this: In the United States alone, about 30,000 people a year are diagnosed with a disease that can be treated with cord blood stem cells. By the year 2015, there will be 10,000 cord blood transplants world-wide per year using publicly banked cord blood.

Now, there’s a better way to save, process and preserve the cord blood. Cryo-Cell is one of the world’s largest and most established family cord blood banks with over 150,000 clients worldwide. One of the many benefits of using cord blood banks is that the cord blood is readily accessible, therefore allowing treatment to begin earlier if required. Think of all the time you can save when you don’t need to search and go through the matching process required for publicly banked stem cells.

And also, banking with Cryo-Cell means you don’t need to fork out money to retrieve your baby’s stored stem cells should they be needed for transplant. This is an option that's really worth exploring especially for soon-to-be parents.