uc davis medical center's 'birthing unit'has long been a place where new life begins. now it's part of the first statewide effortto create a public bank for umbilical cord blood and new mom natalie hanson knows itwill someday save lives. my twin sister was diagnosed with juvenilediabetes when we were eight and i know that they use cord blood to try and find curesfor things like diabetes. hanson decided to donate her daughter wren'sumbilical cord blood, which would otherwise be disposed of. it's an ideal source of stem cells -- bothfor research and as an alternative to bone marrow for patients who need life-saving transplants.
cord blood is absolutely wonderful for transplantbecause it can be stored frozen, unlike bone marrow, where a donor needs to be found atthe time when you need that transplant. private 'banking' of umbilical cord bloodhas long been an option - but an expensive one - for new parents who want to bank cordblood for their own families possible use. as a result, the public cord blood inventoryis very limited -- both in quantity and diversity. uc davis' institute for regenerative cureswas chosen to launch the program that is free to parents and creates a reliable source ofcord blood that reflects the population of our entire state. with california being such a diverse areawith so many mixed races, we're a great state
for increasing the availability - anyone whoneeds cord blood for transplant can find a match. donating cord blood is quick, easy and posesno risk to baby or mom. collection specialist karen o'donnell says the response from newparents has been overwhelming. we're totally in agreement with it. it's justanything that we can do to help. we're not going to use it ourselves, so why let it goto waste? thanks to the youngest of donors and theirparents, transplant patients will someday soon have a much greater chance of findinga life-saving match. this program has the potential to save thousands-- maybe millions -- of lives.
in sacramento, kristen simoes, for uc davis.
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