The collection kit contains all of the material and instructions needed for the physician or nurse to collect the specimen and for the parents to ship the specimen to the laboratory, so it was very easy. The cord blood stem cells have to be sent within 24-30 hours after the cord is cut. I also found, the stem cells that are collected, which are usually discarded at birth are the building blocks of our immune systems. They form the white cells that fight infection, red cells that carry oxygen throughout our body and platelets that promote healing, stem cells are found in bone marrow where they continue to generate cells throughout our lives. If ever necessary, umbilical cord blood stem cells can be a substitute for bone marrow in transplants, which treat a number of life-threatening diseases.
Treatments involving radiation or chemotherapy often destroy the immune system.
In the event a transplant is ever needed, umbilical cord blood has a number of important advantages over bone marrow. Treatments using U-Cord stem cells can be less costly than bone marrow transplants. More importantly, is the fact that they are a perfect match for the child from whom they are collected, thus eliminating the process of a matching donor and the risks of rejection. The decision to store my sons cord blood had to be made several weeks before the expected delivery date. The Cord blood can only be collected at the time of delivery and many times babies arrive earlier than expected.