My experience with stem cell treatment

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I am Peter Fernandez and I would like to share my experience on Umbilical cord blood donation. My son was a patient of blood cancer and was deadly suffering from this disease. A very effective treatment of his disease was stem cell treatment. In most cases, the umbilical cord is cut after a baby is born; still some amount of blood is leftovers in the placental blood vessels and its attached umbilical cord. This blood is identified as umbilical cord blood. About 180 ml of cord blood can be obtained at the moment of childbirth. Previously after childbirth, the umbilical cord was thrown away as it is no longer required for the baby. Now, instead of throwing away as a waste, it can be donated for civic use. It is notable that donating cord blood neither affects the mother nor the baby. A fit woman (18 years and older) who had a normal pregnancy and delivery can give her child’s umbilical cord blood in public cord-blood banks. This can be used afterward for saving someone with a serious disease. And this novel gift of someone has helped me to save my child’s life.

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that finally become the unusual types of blood cells. Such cells are very essential in the treatment of, say, leukemia, or cancer of the blood. When patients experience radiation therapy or chemotherapy, their stock stem cells are damaged, leaving them in a very helpless, nearly deadly situation. This was the same condition which was faced by my son. Nowadays, umbilical cords stem cells are being used to treat the patients of blood cancer and several other blood diseases. Conventionally, they accept transplant from a donor via bone marrow transplant or direct normal blood transfusion. These two sources of stem cells are fraught with pain and side-effects, and it is tricky to find a donor match.

The collected blood is kept in bags and sent to the cord-blood bank for prospect use. The cord blood is assigned with an identification numeral. Cord-blood banks can be private or public - private or family cord-blood banks stock up cord blood for future use to take care of diseases within the family, while public banks store the same for the assistance of other people. I approached many banks but was unable to get the exact match for the blood. At last, a bank called “Cyro Cell” provided me the perfect match which we wanted. Cord blood banking cost here was quite reasonable.