Guest Editorial
Cord Blood Saves Lives
A child is dying of cancer. Mom’s got Alzheimer’s. Dad has diabetes. A friend has arthritis. The neighbor has Parkinson’s, and up the block, a kid with a once bright future rests paralyzed in bed with a spinal cord injury, a casualty of a new motorcycle.
Stricken friends organize chili suppers to help pay the bills; we contribute to myriad charities to find the cure and show our support.
Want to help? Really help? Encourage Illinois moms to donate-not throw away-the umbilical cord stem cells.
Nature’s greatest gift of life has been there forever in the umbilical cord-in the "cord blood"-waiting for us to rescue this richest source of stem cells and use them to relieve human suffering.
But we routinely discard the umbilical cord as medical waste without harvesting the precious cord blood that’s already used worldwide for bone marrow transplants, curing dozens of childhood cancers, and increasing, adult diseases. Does the child have sickle cell anemia? Cord blood changes his blood type to cure it. End of story.
The research promises new marvels-regenerative therapies for dementia, stroke, heart disease, even pancreatic cells to reverse diabetes.
Illinois must lead.
HB1843, which the governor signed July 10, is a simple bill, albeit the first of its kind in the U.S. It simply requires hospitals to ask pregnant women if they wish to donate their cord before the afterbirth is discarded. Donation is free.
Pregnant women need to sign up be-fore the 35th week. In confidence, the blood is tested for hepatitis and other diseases. As with conventional blood donation, forms are completed. If accepted, the mother receives a kit to bring to the hospital. After the birth, a nurse or doctor collects up to six ounces of cord blood, and it’s forwarded to a center for tissue typing. Then, frozen at 196 degrees Celsius, it’s stored either for research or for registry on the National Marrow Donor, Caitlin-Raymond, or Worldwide Marrow Donor registries.
Thousands die each year, unable to find a match for a marrow transplant. In 1998, more than 4 million cords were simply thrown away. That’s unacceptable.
Without a family match, non-Caucasians’ odds are remote. That’s why it’s especially urgent to recruit Asian, Native American, Jewish, Arab, and other ethnic groups to participate. It’s literally life or death.
Unless there’s a direct family match, cord blood transplants are superior. Donor searches take three to four months; the odds are slim; the process is painful for donor and recipient; and rejection or what’s called "graft host disease" is about 30 percent, compared to less than 10 percent with cord blood. Cord blood is also cheaper-$15,300 per unit versus $30,000 conventionally. Florida’s Medicaid program saved more than $13.5 million over four years by using cord blood for its transplants. Results from an Illinois study should show up soon.
Pioneers at a division of LifeSource in Glenview (1-847-803-7965) have operated a cord blood bank since 1996 and, despite frustration with limited funding, are dedicated advocates. Twelve counties in southern Illinois are served by the St. Louis Cord Blood Bank at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital (1-888-453-CORD), though also restricted by limited funds to process and store the cord blood.
Cryobank International, a Florida cord bank, is a dynamic company (1-800-869-8608) that collects in the lower 48 states on a 24-hour basis. Cryobank President Dwight Brunoehler introduced me to this subject last year at a University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria seminar, an event which sent my mind racing in quest of a new goal: Let’s make cord blood collection a routine part of childbirth in this country.
Pro-life? Pro-choice? No problem. Every legislator in the House and Senate supported HB1843. The ethical imperative is to save life-not throw it away. Indeed, the question on everyone’s lips is why are we first? Why isn’t this already routine?
Is there a practical problem now? Yes. We shall need to nurture the infrastructure for the collection system to function smoothly. As with anything new, there will be some bumps until the road is smooth. But the first step is public awareness. Each of us needs to demand the resources to make this happen-now.
For more information, or if you wish, Cryobank application forms, call my office at 685-3900.
Rep. Leitch, currently serving his eighth term in the Illinois House, is a 25-year survivor of malignant melanoma. TPW
Stricken friends organize chili suppers to help pay the bills; we contribute to myriad charities to find the cure and show our support.
Want to help? Really help? Encourage Illinois moms to donate-not throw away-the umbilical cord stem cells.
Nature’s greatest gift of life has been there forever in the umbilical cord-in the "cord blood"-waiting for us to rescue this richest source of stem cells and use them to relieve human suffering.
But we routinely discard the umbilical cord as medical waste without harvesting the precious cord blood that’s already used worldwide for bone marrow transplants, curing dozens of childhood cancers, and increasing, adult diseases. Does the child have sickle cell anemia? Cord blood changes his blood type to cure it. End of story.
The research promises new marvels-regenerative therapies for dementia, stroke, heart disease, even pancreatic cells to reverse diabetes.
Illinois must lead.
HB1843, which the governor signed July 10, is a simple bill, albeit the first of its kind in the U.S. It simply requires hospitals to ask pregnant women if they wish to donate their cord before the afterbirth is discarded. Donation is free.
Pregnant women need to sign up be-fore the 35th week. In confidence, the blood is tested for hepatitis and other diseases. As with conventional blood donation, forms are completed. If accepted, the mother receives a kit to bring to the hospital. After the birth, a nurse or doctor collects up to six ounces of cord blood, and it’s forwarded to a center for tissue typing. Then, frozen at 196 degrees Celsius, it’s stored either for research or for registry on the National Marrow Donor, Caitlin-Raymond, or Worldwide Marrow Donor registries.
Thousands die each year, unable to find a match for a marrow transplant. In 1998, more than 4 million cords were simply thrown away. That’s unacceptable.
Without a family match, non-Caucasians’ odds are remote. That’s why it’s especially urgent to recruit Asian, Native American, Jewish, Arab, and other ethnic groups to participate. It’s literally life or death.
Unless there’s a direct family match, cord blood transplants are superior. Donor searches take three to four months; the odds are slim; the process is painful for donor and recipient; and rejection or what’s called "graft host disease" is about 30 percent, compared to less than 10 percent with cord blood. Cord blood is also cheaper-$15,300 per unit versus $30,000 conventionally. Florida’s Medicaid program saved more than $13.5 million over four years by using cord blood for its transplants. Results from an Illinois study should show up soon.
Pioneers at a division of LifeSource in Glenview (1-847-803-7965) have operated a cord blood bank since 1996 and, despite frustration with limited funding, are dedicated advocates. Twelve counties in southern Illinois are served by the St. Louis Cord Blood Bank at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital (1-888-453-CORD), though also restricted by limited funds to process and store the cord blood.
Cryobank International, a Florida cord bank, is a dynamic company (1-800-869-8608) that collects in the lower 48 states on a 24-hour basis. Cryobank President Dwight Brunoehler introduced me to this subject last year at a University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria seminar, an event which sent my mind racing in quest of a new goal: Let’s make cord blood collection a routine part of childbirth in this country.
Pro-life? Pro-choice? No problem. Every legislator in the House and Senate supported HB1843. The ethical imperative is to save life-not throw it away. Indeed, the question on everyone’s lips is why are we first? Why isn’t this already routine?
Is there a practical problem now? Yes. We shall need to nurture the infrastructure for the collection system to function smoothly. As with anything new, there will be some bumps until the road is smooth. But the first step is public awareness. Each of us needs to demand the resources to make this happen-now.
For more information, or if you wish, Cryobank application forms, call my office at 685-3900.
Rep. Leitch, currently serving his eighth term in the Illinois House, is a 25-year survivor of malignant melanoma. TPW