Cord Blood Banking
Cord blood banking can be performed in one of two ways. After your baby is born and the placenta is delivered you can either donate the cord blood, stored within the umbilical cord and placenta, to either a public cord blood bank or a private cord blood bank.
By choosing a private cord blood bank you are storing the blood purely for your own family's use. If either your baby or another member of your family becomes seriously ill at some point in the future then you will be able to access the stored cord blood and the stem cells contained within it for possible life-saving treatment. However, this comes at a substantial financial cost; in order to store your cord blood with a private cord blood bank you will be required to pay an upfront fee and then a yearly storage fee.
On the other hand, if you choose to donate your cord blood to a public cord blood bank, ie one which is run by and funded by the government, then you are making your cord blood and stem cells available for the treatment of anyone who needs it. It is stored indefinitely at no charge to you until a tissue type match is found. The blood is not stored for anyone in particular and that means you cannot expect to make any claims to it. If you choose the public route you are making a gift of your cord blood in much the same way you do if you are donating blood or making a breastmilk donation and you are potentially saving the life of someone who needs your help.
Before deciding which option is the right one for you it is important to note that in the majority of cases cord blood is never required for the personal use of either a donor or their family. And, furthermore, if a child in your family develops a disease such as leukaemia in most cases their own cord blood is of limited or no use. In fact, publicly donated cord blood is more likely to help the patient.
Private cord blood banks do guarantee that you will have your own stem cells on standby if they are ever required but they are an expensive way to access a product that you will possibly never need. Public cord blood banks mean that you will have access to the best match that is possible at the point in time that it is required, including your own donation if it is still available
To store your baby's cord blood you need to register your intention on a cord blood registry. This means the storage facility will be ready to collect and store the cord blood as soon as it becomes available.
If you are interested in cord blood donation through a public cord blood agency, or you just want more information on cord blood banking you can register here. You will be contacted by someone from the NHS after your 30th week of pregnancy.
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