Born with no windpipe, Hannah Warren was kept alive for two and a half years by a tube inserted from her mouth into her lungs, spending her life in an intensive care
unit. Now she is the first child to receive an artificial windpipe grown with her own stem cells. Her prognosis is good and she is expected to go home in the coming months. Read more about this amazing transplant: http://www.today.com/health/girl-2-first-child-receive-artificial-windpipe-6C9682725
Many celebrity parents are investing in cord blood banking and are helping to raise awareness about its benefits. It is obviously working as in the past 12 months the number of new parents storing cord blood has grown by about 30% nationally!
Rebecca & Chris Judd wanted everything to be just right for their first baby Oscar. Rebecca already worked in a medical environment so was aware of the potential of stem cells to help treat a number of conditions but it was only when she was pregnant that she realised she could actually store her own baby’s cord blood. “When I did some more research, I found that although cord blood is currently used to treat conditions including Leukemia, there is research underway that could see stem cells used to treat many more conditions, like Cerebral Palsy, Type 1 Diabetes and Heart Disease. The only way we can take advantage of these potential advances in the future is if we chose to bank Oscar’s blood now. My husband Chris and I hope that Oscar never needs to use his stored cord blood but it gives us great peace of mind to know that it is there just in case.”
And, when Michael and Lindy Klim welcomed their third child Frankie earlier this year, they also chose to store her cord blood. As Lindy said “Obviously, no-one ever wants to think about the possibility of their child getting sick and I really hope that we never have to use the cord blood, but it makes us feel safe to know that it’s there if we do ever need it. Also, in the future if one of our other children needed stem cell therapy, and Frankie’s blood was a match, it could potentially be used to treat them. By banking Frankies’s blood Michael and I feel we are doing our bit to potentially protect all our children’s health. “
Another well-known Australian Chrissie Swan also decided to bank her second child’s cord blood saying “Storing your cord blood is the ultimate insurance policy against the unthinkable.”
For more information about storing cord blood contact Cell Care on 1800 071 075 or www.cellcareaustralia.com
Having a baby can be an overwhelming experience, an emotionally charged 40 weeks filled with a multitude of important decisions to be made. On the day your baby is born you will probably be overcome with visions of your future with your child, first smiles, first steps, birthday parties and all of life’s usual milestones. Probably, the last thing on your mind is the likelihood that your baby may ever become ill, but some parents do consider that a possibility and make a choice that might impact on the future health of their baby or even their other children. They choose to store their baby’s cord blood stem cells.
Why, because we now know that cord blood (the blood that remains in a baby’s placenta and umbilical cord after the delivery of the baby and the umbilical cord has been cut) contains a diverse mixture of different types of cells. This blood is a rich source of blood-forming stem cells that are normally found in the bone marrow and mature into blood cells that carry oxygen to our tissues (red blood cells) and make up our immune system (white blood cells). Cord blood is also a source of regulatory T-cells, which are important in controlling the immune system and may have therapeutic potential in the treatment of immune disorders.
Overseas researchers are looking at how cord blood could be used to repair or regenerate cells to repair tissues in diseases such as type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis where the body’s immune system turns to destroying body tissues. Other experimental approaches are looking at the potential of cord blood stem cells to treat conditions like brain injury.
With such interesting credentials, more and more parents are choosing to store their babies cord blood stem cells as the ultimate insurance for their baby’s future health.
For more information about storing cord blood contact Cell Care on 1800 071 075 or visit www.cellcareaustralia.com
PO Box 833 MOORABBIN VIC 3189
Phone: 1800 071 075 (Toll Free)
Fax: +613 9551 2933
Email: info@cellcareaustralia.com
