A mother-of-three has said storing her new baby’s cord blood is “extra protection” against the risk of disease as the child grows – and one she hopes she will never have to use.
Rozgar, from South East London, gave birth to son Heizan in May 2024, and had arranged to store the blood from his umbilical cord through the charity’s Model Cell Biobank service.
The cord blood stem cells can be used instead of bone marrow stem cells to treat blood cancers and genetic disorders in the child, his siblings or other family members – and is being promoted as a safe and effective procedure on World Cord Blood Day (November 15).
Rozgar said: “It is like having a second plan in place if something should go wrong later – extra protection against ill-health.”
She did not store the cord blood from her other two children, a boy and a girl now 12 and 17, because she knew nothing of the procedure when they were born. She said: “I found out about it when I was pregnant this year – I saw a banner about the service at the maternity unit I attended.”
Rozgar had a C-section and the cord blood was collected by an independent midwife who attended the birth with the rest of the midwifery team. “It was very straightforward,” Rozgar said.
LMRUK describes cord blood banking as “biological health insurance.”
It can be possible to use the stem cells to treat blood cancers or in emerging therapies to treat diseases such as diabetes, cerebral palsy and Parkinson’s Disease. Clinical trials are being performed all over the world looking at the potential use of stem cells to treat new diseases and hopefully further breakthroughs.
To find out more about the Model Cell Biobank service, click here: https://lmruk.org/model-cell-biobank-service/.
