Cord Blood Stem Cells Information

Does anyone have any experience with saving placenta blood for the stem cells?

We are five weeks from our due date. I wonder if it's worth paying to save the stem cells. I know that there are public banks out there. I'm thinking that you'll never know what advances the future will bring so it may be very smart to save these stem cells.

Public Comments

1. Cord blood? This is a bank that does it. http://www.viacord.com/ No banks are public unfortunately if you are in the US (not sure about other countries). They are private and expensive. My husband and I cannot personally afford it. However, we are going to donate the cord blood to help someone else - that is free.
2. When I got my 3D ultrasound they gave me something where I could get a voucher for a free year of cord blood banking, supposedly a $150 value or something like that. I considered doing this, but my husband and I eventually agreed that although it is a good idea, we don't want to be stuck with the decision later on of whether or not to continue paying for the banking. What if we can't afford it next year, or the year after that? If you know for sure you will have the money everytime it comes time to pay for the next year's worth of banking, I'd say go for it. It has already been linked to helping cure lukemia and other diseases. I just wish I could donate the cord blood to something like stem cell research...
3. it can be very expensive, so unless you know your going to have complications with your child, i wouldnt do it. but if you can afford it, go ahead.
4. If you decide not to privatly bank, please consider donating. I am here today thanks to the donation of cord blood which I used in my stem cell transplant (the medically accurate name for a bone marrow tranpslant) to treat my leukemia. http://www.marrow.org is the National Marrow Donors Program and can give you instructions on who to contact to donate