Pointers For rs a , -_ — oT “7 T'’Cees Le Va (Le Preserving Your Child’s Health And Helping Others (NAPSA)—There may be hope for children who develop lifethreatening illnesses such as leukemia or sickle-cell anemia. A simple, painless medical procedure can savetheir lives. If you preserve your newborn’s cord blood, you may be providing your child and your entire family with the possibility of treatment for more than 40 diseases. It is now known that the stem cells found in cord blood can reconstitute immune systems. It is the reason more and more parents-to- be are adding cord blood banking to their to-do lists, among other matters such as buying baby paraphernalia, selecting pediatricians and so forth. Tens of thousands of expectant parents are banking their baby’s cord blood, making this procedure among the country’s fastest growing obstetrical procedures. Harvesting umbilical cord blood poses no risk to mother or child. It is stored in cryogenic freezers, ready for use as soon as it is needed. However, banking your newborn’s cord blood in private banks, as opposed to public banks, is the only way to ensure a 100 percent match for the baby and a 25 percent chance for a perfect match for siblings. In the best of worlds, if you decide that your child or other family members won’t need your banked cord blood, there might be somebody else’s child who does need it. In such a case, there is now a new option to make unused cord blood available to public banks, a much-needed option since there is a national shortage of publicly available cord blood units, due in large part to inadequate funding. A simple procedure can help public health for years to come. With the Public Donation Option™, available through Family Cord Blood Services, you needn’t worry about unneeded cord blood being discarded without benefit to anyone. The private cord blood bank will process, test, label and evaluate the cord blood for public donation eligibility and upon donation, costs may be refunded as determined by publicly accepted standards andpractices. Thus, with the expansion of the public bank’s pool of cord blood units made available through the Public Donation Option, medical science has a powerful tool to treat illness and help create a healthy future for the youngest Americans. You can learn more by calling 800-400-3430 or visiting www.fa milycordbloodservices.com. Preserving Your Child’s Health And Helping Others, a simple procedure, can help public health for years to come.
