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Tasha Jock was just 20 years old when her 6-month-old daughter Madilynn, or Maddie, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) on September 19, 2010. Maddie quickly began aggressive chemotherapy at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. One month after Maddie’s diagnosis, Tasha learned she was pregnant with her second child. With her first pregnancy, Tasha had heard and read about cord blood banking , but did not pursue preservation of Maddie’s cord blood because the cost seemed too high for “such an elective” service. When Tasha’s OB/GYN learned about Maddie’s condition during an appointment related to her second pregnancy, he recommended that Tasha enroll in ViaCord’s Sibling Connection Program.
At that critical and vulnerable point in Maddie’s treatment, Tasha felt a rush of hope and was grateful to have the option to save her son’s cord blood stem cells – a medical resource that could potentially be used in the future to help treat Maddie. Tasha welcomed Liam into the world on June 27, 2011. By that time, Maddie had responded well to eight months of chemotherapy. …
For the millions of people around the world who suffer from incurable diseases and injury, Stem Cell Awareness Day is a day to celebrate the scientific advances made to-date and be hopeful of what is yet to come, according to the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) . And we’d have to say, we agree.
Stem cells from umbilical cord blood have been used in nearly 20,000 transplants worldwide during the last 20 years to help treat nearly 80 diseases. And clinical trials, in the area of regenerative medicine, are now being conducted to determine whether a child’s own cord blood stem cells may be used to treat cerebral palsy and Type 1 Diabetes. Read more about the trials in a previous blog post.
Despite all the great news about cord blood stem cells and the hope that they provide for the future, there still exists a critical education gap. According to a study published in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine nearly 75% of expectant mothers in the study considered themselves “minimally informed” when it comes to cord blood banking.
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For treatments that use cord blood stem cells, a key predictor of success is the number of stem cells that are available for transplant or infusion. That’s why ViaCord developed a state-of-the-art collection system to preserve the most cells possible – and why expectant parents should ask about and understand the collection process as they decide which cord blood company to bank with. One important factor to consider is the type of anticoagulant used in the cord blood collection.
After your child is born the umbilical cord blood that is left over will be drained into a collection bag. If cord blood alone were placed in the bag, the blood would quickly coagulate or clot, leaving most of its cells unusable. To prevent this, collection bags are pre-filled with an anticoagulant. This minimizes clotting while the blood is transported to the processing lab. But not all anticoagulants are created equal.
Today, stem cells are primarily used in the treatment of disease and in tissue regeneration. They largely come from one of three sources – cord blood, bone marrow and peripheral blood. At ViaCord, we’re dedicated to storing cord blood stem cells for families for potential medical use. We’re also dedicated to keeping you up to date with the latest related research. That is why we’d like to tell you about a study recently posted by the American Heart Association (AHA), which shows that patients who experience chronic chest pain may find relief with bone marrow stem cell treatment. Although the source of stem cells used in this study was bone marrow, we think it’s valuable to monitor advancement in bone marrow stem cell applications because of its potential to carry over to cord blood science someday …. especially because the study specifically looked at CD34+ cells which are also found in cord blood.
Promising results help scientists move forward
Approximately 850,000 people in the United States have refractory angina. This condition causes untreatable chest pain and can make exercise nearly…
Summertime is full of sun and fun, but when the kids are itching to do something different, you may be pressed for ideas. And your budget may be keeping you from doing that trip to the Grand Canyon. You don’t need a big budget and a fancy vacation to have a fun summer. Give these ideas a try, and be sure to keep this list handy for some fun family time.
1. Paint with…pudding?
You read it right. What kid doesn’t want to play with their food? You can make a big bowl of pudding for a group of kids or hand out the individual sized pudding snack packs and let them go to town on construction paper. This is best done outside on a warm day so you can hose them off before they scurry into the house.
2. Happy (backyard) campers
Kids want to go camping? You don’t have to worry about packing food, tent, sleeping bags, stove, bathroom supplies, towels, etc. Set up a tent in the backyard. This gives kids access to bathrooms and mom…
One look at our blog and it’s easy to see we like to talk about cord blood and its valuable stem cells. As a cord blood bank it makes sense, but we also see the transforming power cord blood stem cells can have on a life so we know the importance of generating awareness on the topic. That’s why we’re happy to thank the National Health Information Center (NHIC) for dedicating the whole month of July to cord blood awareness. Educating expectant parents and others about the value of cord blood stem cells may help keep this precious resource from being thrown away as medical waste. If you’d like to spread the word or find out more yourself, here’s a quick primer:
The basics
Today, stem cells are mainly used in the treatment of disease and in tissue regeneration. They largely come from one of three sources – cord blood, bone marrow and peripheral blood. Cord blood stem cells are found in the blood of the umbilical cord. With their instant availability at birth and demonstrated utility,…