Can Cord Blood Be Used For Siblings and Other Family?
Cord blood is the blood located within the vein of your baby’s umbilical cord. This contains all the normal blood components—red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and plasma. In addition to those things, your baby’s cord blood is also made up of precious cells called Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSCs). HSCs are blood forming cells and are being used to treat over 80 life-threatening diseases. One of the best things about this type of treatment is its ability to be used for other family members—not just the donor child. Siblings are known to have up to a 75% match, mothers as high as 50%, and dads up to 25%.Cord Tissue: How does it benefit extended relatives?
Cord tissue is quite literally your baby’s umbilical cord. The cord tissue contains stem cells called Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs). MSCs can differentiate into a number of things, including various tissues, cartilage, and muscle. MSCs are currently being studied 3:1 on how they treat illnesses like Autism, diabetes, Alzheimer’s Disease, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries, organ regeneration, and more. These cells have a very high engraftment rate, one even higher than cord blood; this means your baby’s cord tissue can be used for further extended relatives more so than cord blood (cool, right?). With cord tissue cells, there is a 100% match between extended family: siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. How incredible is that?Why Choose Stem Cell Banking For Second Child?
So, here’s the burning question—If cord tissue and cord blood for siblings is a match, why should I choose stem cell banking for a second child? In addition to the information above (aka, science GOLD!), consider these scenarios:- Scenario #1— Your little girl is diagnosed with an illness. Her physician requests a cord blood fusion for treatment. When you have more than one child’s sample stored, you allow the opportunity for your child to receive more than one treatment if necessary. Not only would you have your little girl’s sample available, you’d have samples from your other children to use for additional treatments.
- Scenario #2— Two of your children get diagnosed with an illness. The specialist recommends a cord blood fusion for each child for treatment. Since you’ve banked a sample for each child, you have a sample available for each of them to use.
- Scenario #3— Your little boy AND another family member both get diagnosed with an illness. Each doctor suggests a cord blood fusion for treatment. You have a sample stored for each one of your children. This means you have multiple samples biologically related to your family. There is a sample for each family member available to be used for treatment—one for your little boy, and another for the other family member.
