Luna Sage, a new parent from North London, discovered the importance of storing umbilical cord blood stem cells when their mother was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and needed to find a suitable match for a life-saving transplant.
Luna said: “When my mother fell ill, she was told that she would need to have a stem cell transplant as part of her treatment. We checked but no one in the family was a match so we had to find a donor to help treat her Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, which we were pleased to hear was successful.”
Cord blood stem cells can be used instead of bone marrow stem cells to treat blood cancers and genetic disorders.
When Luna, who identifies as non-binary, was pregnant they were keen to investigate how to store their baby’s cord blood in case the child or another member of the family needed treatment for a serious illness, like blood cancer, in the future.
Luna said both they and their partner had experience of cancer in their families and wanted to provide protection for their son Dream when he was born in the spring of 2024.
Luna applied to use our cord blood banking service – the Model Cell Biobank – to safely store baby Dream’s stem cells when he was born. Luna’s flatmate was their birthing partner and responsible for contacting the healthcare professional who came to the hospital to carry out the procedure once baby Dream was born.
“I was in labour for 39 hours – so it was good to have it all organised and in place,” Luna said. On the process, they added: “It went really smoothly and didn’t cause any stress or interference after the birth – the phlebotomist who collected the stem cells was very kind and knowledgeable.”
Our charity partners with Smart Cells International, the UK’s first private stem cell storage company, to procure, process, and store umbilical cord blood stem cells under its Human Tissue Authority License.
We help families to use this valuable and potentially lifesaving service by providing funding to people who have a history of blood cancer in their family, or who have additional financial support.
Luna added: “I would really recommend storing stem cells from umbilical cord blood to others. Even if you don’t have any family history of blood cancer it gives you a ‘plan b’ should someone fall ill – and you never know what might happen in the future.”
Dream, who is now eleven months old (Jan 25) will be told his stem cells have been put into storage. “When he’s old enough to understand, I will tell him,” Luna said.
For more information about the Model Cell Biobank service, visit: https://lmruk.org/model-cell-biobank-service/.
