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understanding umbilical cord blood donation

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Understanding Umbilical Cord Blood Donation

Your baby's umbilical cord blood could give hope to a patient with leukemia, aplastic anemia or other blood diseases. The blood-forming cells found in cord blood are being studied under research protocols as a new method for treating patients in need.

Why You Should Donate?
•  Each year thousands of patients are diagnosed with life-threatening diseases that can be treated by rebuilding the patient's hematopoietic (blood cell producing) system with blood-forming cells. Umbilical cord blood is being studied as one of the sources of blood cells.
•  Donating cord blood is medically safe . The cord blood is collected from the umbilical cord after your baby is born.
•  Donation does not change the birth process.
•  The umbilical cord and placenta are usually thrown away after a baby is born.
•  Donating cord blood is free to you and completely confidential.

A Critical Need for Diversity
Marrow and cord blood transplants require matching certain tissue traits of the donor and patient. Because these traits are inherited, a patient's most likely match is someone of the same heritage. Minorities face a greater challenge in finding matched donors or cord blood than Caucasian patients.

Chances of Finding a Match Are Improving
Kids Beating Cancer is committed to supporting children in need of a life saving marrow or blood stem cell transplant. Through ongoing initiatives to increase the diversity of cord blood listings, Kids Beating Cancer is working to raise awareness and recruit more cord blood donors. In 2006, National Marrow Donor Programs satistic showed 26% of all recipients from diverse racial and ethnic groups received cord blood transplants.

The Need ContinuesSome patients are unable to find a match because of the rarity of their tissue traits, even with more than 50,000 cord blood units listed with the National Marrow Donor Program. Some tissue traits are more likely to be found among people of a particular racial or ethnic heritage. That is why a pressing need remains for more cord blood donations from mothers of ethnic diversity.

How Women Can Donate
Any woman who is at least 18 years old, in general good health may be able to donate her baby's cord blood. If you would like to donate your baby's cord blood, look for a participating hospital near you. Because cord blood donation is still a growing field, not all hospitals are prepared to receive a donation at this time.

•  Contact your cord blood bank before you deliver, ideally by your 34th week of pregnancy. The cord blood bank will ask you to:
•  Complete a consent form agreeing to donate your baby's cord blood.
•  Complete a maternal and family health history form to confirm you meet health eligibility guidelines .
•  Give a small blood sample for infectious disease testing.

These steps generally need to be completed before your baby's birth, though timing can vary depending on the cord blood bank you choose.

After your baby's birth, the umbilical cord blood is collected. The donated cord blood is frozen and stored at the cord blood bank for future use. Doctors all over the world search the National Marrow Donor Program Registry of donors and cord blood units to find a match for their patients who need a transplant. If selected, the cord blood is transplanted to a matching patient.

Cord Blood Donation is Different from Private Storage

Before deciding to donate your baby's cord blood, be sure you understand the difference between donating the cord blood and storing it for your own use. For more information about the difference between donation and private storage, see the Cord Blood FAQs .

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