More and more families are questioning the possibility of banking umbilical cord blood for assisting with potential medical treatments later in the life of their baby. How could it REALLY be used? The most recent edition of "The OB/GYN and Infertility Nurse" has an article describing the growing use of newborn cord blood in regenerative medicine. The future of utilizing cord blood is exciting. Here's a story about one little girl and how she has benefitted from her parents saving the cord blood at her birth.
"The Case of Chloe Levine...
Jenny Levine of Denver, Colorado, first learned about cord blood's potential medical uses at her OB/GYN visit. She and her husband Ryan, decided to privately bank their second daughter, Chloe's cord blood before her birth. Gradually, her parents realized she was not developing properly. 'At 9 months, Chloes was still unable to hold a bottle and was unable to crawl properly. She had limited use of the right side of her body', said her mother. Chloe was diagnosed with right-sided hemiplegic cerebral palsy, most likely due to an in-utero stroke. 'My husband and I were completely devastated,' said Jenny. The Levines were told that Chloe faced 17 to 18 years of therapy, with no guarantees of success. But the family soon discovered a Duke University study where children with cerebral palsy were being reinfused with their own cord blood stem cells, with encouraging results. Chloe was accepted at Duke and intravenously reinfused with her cells on May 27, 2008. Shortly after, Chloe began to show changes. 'Enough of the stiffness in her right foot had disappeared, and for the first time she could push the peddle down on her battery-powered tractor,' said Jenny. 'She began to expand her vocabulary, saying things like her nickname, Coco. Therapists had worked for weeks before to get her to produce words like these without success.' Today, a year and a half after infusion, Chloe no longer receives physical or speech therapy, and her occupational therapy has been cut in half. She began preschool this fall; she no longer qualifies for special needs services at school."
Yeah, Chloe!!
Too bad we just cannot afford it. We barely have enough to pay for the 20% insurance won't cover of the birth.
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