Dallas saves himself
This is truly an amazing story, of little Dallas Hextell. Doctors used Dallas’ own cord blood stem cells to treat his Cerebral Palsy with miraculous results. Click on image to link to video of news story:
Three points to take:
1. Cord blood stem cells are ethical. They are a type of adult stem cells.
2. Adult stem cells are miraculously treating patients NOW.
3. Save your baby’s cord blood!
[HT: friend Chris M.]
Nov.30, 2007 9:07 am |
Stem cell |
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Oh Thank God! The potential is mind boggling.
Alzheimers. Bi Polar. Schizophrenia. Muscular Dystrophy…
And no one dies. Amazing.
Here is the ONLY problem I have with the whole saving your baby’s cord blood issue. It is SUPER expensive! I remember I got a bazillion and a half pamphlets on it when I was about to have my daughter. The sheer amount of how much it would cost to store is just crazy to me. I mean I’m not hurting for money or anything, BUT it was really expensive in my eyes. I understand the medical benefits of it and those are GREAT, but man it costs a lot!
Elizabeth, so true. I stumbled across a site that let you save your menstrual blood which apparently has stem cells. You do all the work yourself and then pay hundreds of dollars for them to store it.
wtf dude.
Elizabeth, you’re right.
But another benefit to consider, cord blood may be used for other family members, particularly immediate. Only 4 of 6 markers must match for it to be considered an exact match.
Also, this blood can be stored indefinitely, as far as is known, 60-70+ years – for the day these children get cancer, or need organ replacements, etc. It really is incredible stuff.
3. Save your baby’s cord blood!
One of the (very) few drawbacks my wife and I have found about homebirths — our last two children have been born at home — is that it’s next to impossible to do this, for a host of reasons.
Alas.
If you look at how much you may spend on health insurance for your child over the years, add up the out-of-pocket costs, and God forbid a serious health issue that exceeds your maximum life benefit, this could be a huge savings to your child, on many levels, and quite a smart investment, IMO.
I think that health insurance companies should look into this & offer savings for people who “save the cord”. Kindof like ABS brake / theft device discounts on auto insurance!
I know that saving your baby’s cord blood is expensive but you can donate it for free. I don’t think they store it, more likely use it for research, but I still think it’s the better way to go than just throwing it away.
hi folks,
please read up on lotus birth or delayed-clamping-of-the-umbilical-cord for a very different perspective on these cells.
I wonder if such a large amt of blood being trapped in the placenta is the basis of why humans ‘fear’?
Kristen, this is true..but I didn’t get much information on how to donate it..just on how to store it for my own personal use. Which was super expensive…of course the medical benefits throughout my child’s lifetime could have possibly been huge, but I just could not afford the cost of it at the time. I do think the health insurance companies should take a look at this and possibly include it as a benefit in their plan. Because I really would have done it if it didn’t cost so much.
My main problem with cord blood banking is that I think the baby should get all the blood out of the placenta and cord for him to start with. Yes, I know, I know, I am a back to nature freak, but I really think it is weird to cut the cord. No other animals do it. One study showed waiting just two minutes longer to cut the cord caused babies to have higher iron levels at 6 months old. I think it is really better to go with nature and let the baby get all the blood into his little body. Other than that, I support the idea of saving any remaining cord blood.
pip,
Elizabeth, so true. I stumbled across a site that let you save your menstrual blood which apparently has stem cells. You do all the work yourself and then pay hundreds of dollars for them to store it.
wtf dude.
Posted by: prettyinpink at November 30, 2007 9:27 AM
I almost fell out of my chair. I have to check the onion on that one. I guess if you had cancer and were desperate, you might try anything. Wouldn’t it be ironic if science really found some bona fide therapeutic value in it? I can see it now, Menstrual Blood, the new hope for humanity.
lol I know!
here’s the web site:
http://www.celle.com/
PIP,
ALL I can say about that is..ick. lol.
tell me about it. My friend and I spent a cool hour musing on what kind of person would fall for that sort of thing and why in the world they would promote it in those free advertisements on my blog. And how gross it would be to participate.
You’re right, Elizabeth, it IS super-expensive … it would be awesome of health ins. companies jumped on this. When my daughter was born in ’04, we banked her cord blood w/ a company called CryoCell. It was like $1400 or $1500 up front, then all we pay is $90 per year “storage fee” each year on her birthday. This price can’t go up until after her 21st birthday or something like that. We thought the price was outrageous at the time (especially given that your OB is the one doing all the work to collect it, but the fee you’re paying goes to CryoCell!), but we still considered it a wise investment. When we were pregnant with our son two years later, I again looked into banking his cord blood as well, and was shocked to find that the price had gone up EVEN more! We didn’t end up banking his blood, of course, as he passed away. But I still think it is such an invaluable service … if God ever blesses us with another child I know we will look into it again for that child.
PIP:
My aunt found something once where you save your menstrual blood and grow a tree with it. I’m not quite sure how to feel about that…
My aunt found something once where you save your menstrual blood and grow a tree with it.
Leah, if it turns out to be white oak, does that mean you are anemic?
Cord blood isn’t just in the cord. The placenta is full of it. In the 80’s, I was an OB nurse and my hospital saved all placentas, froze them and sent them to Lansing. They were used to produce gamma globulin which was given to jump start the immune system of people who had been exposed to various diseases like hepatitis. There was a line in our consent form giving the hospital the right to dispose of any tissue. There was no cost to the patient. This could still be done today. Of course, the way we did things back then, there was no way to connect the placentas with the donor but they could still be used to produce stem cells for research. Incidentally, although this amazing video did not address it, cord blood is not the only source of stem cells. Blood, bone marrow, stomach lining and fat all produce stem cells.
The boy in this story is my son and I just had to say to those who think it’s to expensive to bank cordblood, what if I had thought the same thing? Dallas’ would have never had this opportunity and we would have had to live with the regret. I’m so happy that our son’s story is getting people talking. If everyone start’s banking cordblood it will become a lot less expensive and you can publicly bank your cordblood through donation and save lives also.
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