Cord blood banking? What is that?!
Doulas of PG County has partnered with Anja Health to let you all know about cord blood banking! Below are some FAQ’s about cord blood banking and how to get started. There is even a discount for DPG clients!
What is Cord Blood Banking?
Stem cells are our body’s raw materials. They have the ability to become any type of cell in our bodies including bone, muscle and blood cells. Stem cells are present in bone marrow and other tissues, including the umbilical cord, cord blood, and placenta. They have the potential to treat and even sometimes reverse diseases and disorders. Umbilical cord blood banking provides potential treatments for many of the medical conditions we hope our children and family members never have to suffer through.
During pregnancy, there is a transfer of powerful stem cells and other immune-boosting cells between the mother and baby. These cells remain in the blood of the umbilical cord and tissue and are often discarded after birth as biomedical waste.
Cord blood banking is the process of collecting, freezing, and storing the stem cells in the umbilical cord blood and tissue. Later, they can potentially be used to treat a variety of illnesses that were previously thought to be difficult to treat or incurable.
Did you know? Umbilical cord blood banking is OB, Midwife, and Doula recommended!
There are two primary types of stem cells acquired during cord blood and tissue banking: hematopoietic stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells.
Hematopoietic stem cells are found in the umbilical cord blood and are approved by the FDA to treat a variety of illnesses, including blood disorders (e.g. sickle cell anemia), immune disorders (e.g. multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis), and cancer (e.g. lymphoma, leukemia, myeloma). There are also over 1300 ongoing clinical trials examining other use cases.
Mesenchymal stem cells are found in the umbilical cord tissue, placenta, and bone marrow. They are powerful stem cells used to treat a variety of chronic and progressive medical conditions, including lung disease, Autism, Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, and hair loss.
What is the difference between public and private cord blood banking?
While you have the option of receiving cord blood or tissue from a donor via a public cord blood bank, there are several potential risk factors to consider. When using donor stem cells there is a high risk of incompatibility, which may result in a range of significant acute or chronic symptoms. This is the case in the transplant complication graft-versus-host disease. This complication occurs when the body sees stem cell transplantation as an immune system invasion. Since our immune system is meant to attack foreign bodies as a means of self-preservation, the body rejects the healthy new stem cells, leading to harmful symptoms and sometimes death.
It is also important to understand that current data also shows us that as high as 30% of people can’t find a stem cell match through public banking. This disproportionately affects people of color and mixed-race individuals, as many stem cell banks solicit donations in locations with demographics that tend to trend Caucasian.
This was the case for Kathryn, the founder of Anja Health, and her family. Kathryn’s younger brother Andrew was diagnosed with cerebral palsy after a near drowning accident. He couldn’t walk or talk, so their mom immediately began looking for treatments. Though the research was in its early stages at the time, there were a few inspiring stories of children with cerebral palsy who saw changes in upper body strength, vision, and coordination within just a year of an umbilical cord blood treatment. However, being mixed-race (both Kathryn and her late brother Andrew are half-Chinese and half-white) they were unable to find a stem cell match for treatment.
You can read Kathryn’s full story here.
By using stem cells you’ve privately banked, you greatly reduce the risk of developing transplant complications or being unable to find a match. When banking your cord blood and tissue for future personal use, the cells are always a 100% match for who they came from, and they may also be safely used as a treatment for family members.
Siblings have a 75% chance of being a match, while parents are always a 50% match for their children. Extended family, such as aunts and uncles, also have a probable chance of being a partial match, which could have a significant impact, should they need treatment.
How can you and your family benefit from stem cell banking?
Significant improvements have been observed in medical conditions with the help of stem cells, especially in the last decade. These improvements include but are not limited to:
● Improving motor function in children with cerebral palsy
● Promoting CAR T-cell therapy, an immunotherapeutic cancer treatment
● Reversing Type 1 Diabetes
● Significantly improving symptoms of Crohn’s disease
● Aiding in heart failure treatment
● Showing protective effects on hair loss
How do I start my cord blood and tissue banking process?
To bank your baby’s umbilical cord blood, cord tissue, or placenta, order a collection kit before your due date – we recommend ordering around or before you are 30 weeks pregnant. You can store the kit at room temperature and bring it along with you to the hospital or birth center. Before birth, tell your primary care provider that you have the kit ready for collection. And when you arrive at Labor & Delivery, remind the admitting nurse that you plan to collect your stem cells.
Your collection kit from Anja Health has everything you need for collection and our stem cell banking experts will help guide you through the process.
Use the discount code PGDoulas to save $179 on your collection kit!
After the birth of your child, the concierge team at Anja Health will collect your kit from the hospital and take care of everything, including viability testing, optimization, and cryogenic storage in their AABB-accredited, FDA-approved lab in New Jersey.
Rest assured that if there was ever a time that you needed it, your cord blood stem cells are available to you and your family!