During the earlier days before 1970’s or 1980’s preserving the umbilical cord after delivery was not considered an important aspect. But researchers have found that the umbilical cord which connects the baby and the mother is rich in stem cells that can fight deadly diseases like Leukemia, Hodgkin’s disease and genetic diseases such as aplastic anemia, sickle-cell anemia and Fanconi anemia.
The recent propagation in the medical field especially in maternity homes and hospitals today is the preservation of the Umbilical Cord Blood. The Umbilical Cord is the life line between the mother and the fetus till the time of delivery as it supplies the necessary nutrients and oxygen to the baby. But after delivery the placenta and the umbilical cord is usually discarded – not until the major medical breakthrough happened in the Umbilical Cord Blood discovery.
The Umbilical Cord Blood has the same kind of blood formatting stem cells called the hematopoietic stem cells which a bone marrow donor might have. With the successful researches in stem cell transplantation, storing of the Umbilical Cord Blood is seen as an essential substance in the medical field.
The procedure in storing the Umbilical Cord Blood does not affect the donor in any way as it does not hinder the delivery process. The preservation of the Umbilical Cord Blood is not only helpful in saving the lives of those suffering from deadly diseases like Cancer, but also useful for the donor’s children or close relatives in treating any future deadly diseases especially when there is a strong family medical history of such disease.