Stem Cells: One of Nature’s Wonders

Umbilical cord blood is rich in stem cells, which help us create the differentiated cells and systems that make up our bodies. They can be found throughout the body. In addition to cord blood harvesting, medical science has found ways to collect stem cells from the peripheral blood and bone marrow. Through procedures such as transplants, stem cells save the lives of thousands of people each year. Umbilical cord blood stem cells are special in that they are:

• Easily harvested and pose no risk to the mother or baby
• Less likely to result in deadly complications, such as graft-versus-host disease, than other types of stem cell transplants
• A perfect match for your baby and often a match for a sibling or parent

In 1988, doctors at the Hospital Saint Louis in Paris performed the first stem cell transplant using cord blood. Thousands of similar procedures have since been performed. Doctors can now treat immune disorders, leukemia, lymphoma, neuroblastoma, and many other cancers using stem cells. Some experts anticipate that stem cells may play a role in treatments for many of today’s incurable diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Because stem cells help to form all the tissues and organs in the body, they’ve been the subject of much ground breaking research -some of it controversial - since their discovery in the early 1960s. Since cord blood stem cells are taken from the umbilical cord of a fully developed baby, their use is not controversial.