Why do some members …

[Sandy L]

Why do some members talk about BMT , SCT and now Cord Blood? If you are older than 60 does that mean you no longer can have a BMT or does that not matter anymore? Would someone opt for the CBT if they could not find a donor for the SCT?

[lindajo]

Sandy, If you have a sibling match or a perfect HLA match from a donor in the registry I think they still recommend a BMT.

For anyone else, regardless of age SCT and CBT are their only options. In other countries they are having good luck with CBT. There is currently legislation that has passed the house and is now in the senate that would provide government funding to establish a Cord Blood Registry.

It was featured on Nightline with Ted Koppel earlier in the week. Go to http://www.abcnews.com and look for the story. This might be one way of starting massive research without the controversy of embryos. It would provide funding to store the 3.5 million umbilical cords that are thrown away each year and to do research on the stems cells in the cord.

No one has done enough research yet to say whether or not it is a better alternative to embryonic stem cells. It seems like it is worth supporting though. Call your Senator and express your opinion.

[patti]

As an interesting side note – I have a friend that has six kids and is about to have #7 and with all six she has asked her doctors/hospital to donate the cord to the blood bank or some other place for cord blood transplants. Everytime she was turned down by the facility and/or doctor. They said they don’t do that. She is going to try with #7. She wanted to donate her cord blood to my MIL for her MDS. How does one go about actually donating if the doctors and/or hospital won’t take it?

patti

[lindajo]

Right now there isn’t a way to donate it because of the costs of collecting, preserving, storing,etc. That is what this legislation would cover. Otherwise you would have to pay to have it collected and stored by one of the private cord banks that is currently available.

[stacyl]

in response to patti: one company that does accept donated cord blood is lifebank. i believe it may be the only company that does it, at this time. although it is a donation, you still have to pay about $1000 for the retrieval cost and doctors cost, etc. the payment kind of acts like insurance… if you donate and someone in your immediate family is in need, all “donations” on hand would be tested for possible match. for more info, visit http://www.lifebankusa.com

[patti]

Thanks Stacy! I’ll print this information and give it to my friend. I know she feels like the good cells in baby cords are going to waste by just tossing them.

patti

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