Private and Public Banking
The only chance to collect your baby's cord blood is at birth. Collecting cord blood is painless and safe for mother and baby and free of ethical controversy. If the cord blood is not collected at birth and preserved, this irreplaceable stem cell resource is lost forever.
Expectant parents have three choices:
- Store their baby's cord blood with a private bank
- Donate it to a public cord blood bank, or
- Allow it to be it discarded at birth.
Before you decide, be sure you understand the difference between storing your baby's cord blood for his or her own use and donating it for public use.
Private Cord Blood Banking
There are several advantages to chosing a private cord blood bank:
- It will always be on reserve for your child if he or she ever needs it for transplantation or therapeutic treatment.
- Your child's cord blood stem cells are a perfect biological match for that child and have a greater chance of being a match for a sibling.
- There are no rejection issues when a person uses his/her own stem cells, dramatically increasing the chances of a successful transplant.
Public Cord Blood Banking
If you donate your baby's cord blood to a public cord blood bank, it may be preserved, stored, and listed on a registry if the cord blood bank is approved to be listed on the National Marrow Donor Program registry. The specimen is then distributed at the bank's discretion. It is available for potential matching for a patient in need of a stem cell transplant. If it does not meet the criteria for transplant, it may be used for medical research. It is not reserved for your child's private use.
If you wish to donate your child's cord blood, the mother must register with a collection program by the 34th week of pregnancy.
Donating cord blood for public use may incur a minor cost to the parent in doctor fees. You should check with your doctor. Not all hospitals in all geographic areas collect cord blood for public banking. If you decide not to store you baby's cord blood with CorCell, please consider donating this precious gift of life to a public bank.
For more information, contact the National Marrow Donor Program at www.marrow.org or visit www.parentsguidecordblood.com.
