Saving Life Through A Newborn’s Umbilical Cord Blood

Doctors have discovered the potential of a newborn’s umbilical cord blood to cure today’s debilitating diseases, not only to save the baby’s life in the future from malignancy, but also it’s parents, siblings, even grandparents.

This new medical technology makes use of blood, extracted from the baby’s umbilical cord upon delivery. The blood sample is then sent to a cord blood facility for testing and processing before it is frozen for storage in a blood bank. The donor can withdraw the blood for future personal or family use. (http://www.parentsguidecordblood.com).

Research in umbilical cord blood began in the 1960′s but it was in 1988 of October in France, that scientists saw the first success of their attempt of UCB transfusion. The instant success happened to a five-year-old boy who was afflicted with Fanconi anemia. Since then , there have been reported more than 6,000 umbilical cord transplants. In 2004, CordLife, a Singaporean firm pioneering in UCB research and storage in Asia, performed a UCB transplant from a sibling. The donor was an infant girl and the recipient was her three-year-old brother who had leukemia. The transplant was a success and the patient survived.