SAN BRUNO, Calif., May 6 /PRNewswire/ -- The delivery room staff had their
hands full on April 5 at Columbia Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas
when they not only delivered two sets of identical twin boys, but also
collected the cord blood from all four babies. The parents of the quads,
Christina and Patrick Tetrick, recognized the importance of preserving this
vital medical resource for their family and banked the blood with Cord Blood
Registry of San Bruno, California.
The Tetricks chose to bank the umbilical cord blood of all four sons
should any of them ever develop any of the 47 diseases currently treatable
with a cord blood transplant, and for the many future uses of cord blood on
the horizon. Last month, for example, Australian physicians experimentally
used stem cells, similar to those found in cord blood, to stimulate blood
vessel growth in a patient with heart disease.
After the Tetrick babies' cord blood was collected in the delivery room,
it was packaged and overnight expressed to Cord Blood Registry's new, wholly
owned laboratory and storage facility in Tucson, Arizona. There, the cord
blood was carefully processed and tested before being stored in liquid
nitrogen at -384 degrees Fahrenheit. During the years this blood is being
stored, it is likely that many new therapeutic uses for it may be found, such
as treatments for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, and diabetes, to name
a few.
More and more parents are choosing to save their babies' cord blood as a
biological resource for the future. It is a decision that likely saved
two-year-old Jesse Farquharson of Canada, who received a transplant of his own
cord blood a year ago to treat retinoblastoma (which had spread to his spinal
fluid). Jesse has achieved a remarkable recovery. His mother, who had saved
the boy's cord blood stem cells despite a lack of family history of disease,
said "They gave Jesse a zero percent chance of survival, but we had his cord
blood and he's still alive."
In Michigan, Lisa Maddox banked the cord blood of her newborn daughter,
which was later transplanted to her nine-year-old son to combat sickle cell
anemia. Six months after the procedure, her son has no sign of the disease
and is looking forward to attending school in the fall.
Cord Blood Registry is the world's largest accredited and most experienced
family cord blood bank. Nearly 40,000 babies have their cord blood stem cells
entrusted to the Registry. Information regarding cord blood stem cell
collection and banking is available on the Internet at
http://www.cordblood.com or by calling toll-free 1-888-CORD BLOOD
(888) 267-3256.
Contact: Bil Paul, Cord Blood Registry, 800-588-6377, Ext. 239 or
mediarelations@cbrsystems.com.
SOURCE Cbr Systems
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Related links:
http://www.cordblood.com
CONTACT:
Bil Paul of Cord Blood Registry,
+1-800-588-6377, ext. 239, mediarelations@cbrsystems.com
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