Registry, Inc. Co-Sponsors National Cancer Survivors Day Festivities
SAN BRUNO, Calif., May 31 /PRNewswire/ -- A baby in Canada is certainly
one of the youngest to be celebrating National Cancer Survivors Day on Sunday
June 3, 2001, after receiving a ground-breaking transplant. Eleven-month-old
Jesse Farquharson was released form Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children last
week after doctors used his own cord blood stem cells to rebuild his immune
system following cancer treatment. This novel procedure to use his own cells
was only available because Jesse's parents decided to save his umbilical cord
blood at birth -- for peace of mind.
Cord blood is a relatively new weapon in the fight against cancer, but has
already helped thousands of families. Cord Blood Registry, Inc., the world
largest family umbilical cord blood stem cell bank
( http://www.cordblood.com ), will be providing information about this
life-saving technology this Sunday at the San Francisco Bay Area celebration
of National Cancer Survivors Day at Sharon Meadow in Golden Gate Park, from
10am-3pm PDT ( http://www.survivorsday.com ).
Families, like Jesse's, are banking their newborns' umbilical cord blood
because it contains genetically related stem cells, which are the building
blocks of blood and the immune system. Family banking allows parents to
preserve these unique stem cells for potential use by the baby or another
family member. More than 2,000 cord blood transplants have been performed,
treating more than thirty life-threatening diseases including leukemia,
lymphoma, myeloma, sickle cell anemia and aplastic anemia.
Families facing cancer and cancer survivors who are pregnant, may qualify
for cord blood banking at no cost through Cord Blood Registry's Designated
Transplant Program (DTP). The DTP was created to help expectant families that
have a parent or child who may benefit from a stem cell transplant. Recently,
the Registry's DTP program facilitated the first known newborn-to-mother
(donor-to-recipient) cord blood transplantation to treat chronic myelocytic
leukemia (CML) in the mother. This was the fourteenth transplant using the
Registry's samples and all have successfully engrafted into the patients.
Cord Blood Registry, Inc. has teamed up with The Susan G. Komen Breast
Cancer Foundation and Stanford University, other sponsors of the Survivor's
Day Celebration, to further scientific developments for cancer treatment.
More information about cord blood banking and the DTP is available at
http://www.cordblood.com, or by calling toll free 888-CORD-BLOOD.
SOURCE Cbr Systems
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Related links:
http://www.cordblood.com
CONTACT:
Sam Yoo, ext. 239, or Amy Seirer, ext. 303,
both of Cbr Systems, Inc., 800-588-6377, or
mediarelations@cbrsystems.com
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