The Value of Stem Cell Preservation

If you’re an expectant mom, chances are you may have the opportunity to provide a truly valuable service to your family or to somebody else with real medical needs. The service is based on the practice of stem cell preservation. Stem cell preservation is a painless and effortless way to provide life giving cells to someone in need.

You see, at the time of birth, the umbilical cord connecting the mother and baby holds an incredible resource, cord blood carrying stem cells. These stem cells are extremely adaptable, and can be utilized in rebuilding an immune system or a blood system. As the baby is delivered and begins to take its own first breaths, that umbilical cord is severed and the practice of stem cell preservation can begin. Blood is drawn from the umbilical cord, and a short while later is treated under laboratory conditions to a state of deep freezing.

In considering the value of stem cell preservation, imagine the challenges of facing life-threatening diseases. Life suddenly becomes fragile for friends, family, loved ones.  A life threatening disease might sound a little like floating alone in the middle of a deep ocean. However, your life giving experience of becoming a mother can also be a life giving event for someone you may never meet.

Stem Cell Preservation – a Life Preserver

Now think of the relief, the joy, and the exhilaration of being tossed a medical life preserver.  As of 2006, over 8,000 people had received that life-preserver in the way of precious stem cells deriving from cord blood. Stem cell preservation (from cord blood and bone marrow) is proving to be a significant medical healing practice and is helping open doors for treating the likes of leukemia, lymphoma, breast cancer, and Hodgkin’s disease, to name just a few.

How do you think the recipient of a stem cell transplant feels about stem cell preservation? One simple word could characterize this feeling: thankful.

Expectant mothers have the unique privilege of donating umbilical cord blood and contributing to stem cell preservation. The process of stem cell preservation is simple, non-invasive, and free of charge. Please consult with your doctor or midwife before the 34th week of pregnancy. Your decision to look into stem cell preservation could be represent a life preserver to someone who could really use the help.