Your baby’s umbilical cord could be someone else’s cure

Source: Be the Match

Two years ago, Nehal Patel was waiting to see her obstetrician when she noticed a woman stocking shelves with brochures about a private cord blood bank.

She was curious so the Sandy Springs mother, then 26 weeks pregnant with her first child, asked some pointed questions about the bank. What was it? And why was it needed?

The woman politely explained that collecting and storing the blood from newborns’ umbilical cords, which contain stem cells, can be used to treat leukemia, lymphoma and more than 70 other diseases, potentially saving thousands of people each year.

Despite this, Tina Saadat, community engagement supervisor for the Southeast region of the nonprofit Be the Match, said that many women aren't aware of the option to donate their infant's cord blood to public banks.

The Patels weren’t.

But the woman who explained the process to her that day sparked something inside of her.

“I work in public health and understand the importance of donation, especially for minorities,” she said. “Patients are most likely to find a matching cord blood unit from someone of a similar race or ethnicity.”

Patel and her husband, Rohit Patel, are Asian Indians.

Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association recommend public cord blood banking over private cord blood banking. Not only is public cord blood banking free, it makes stem cells available to anyone who needs them and increases the number and diversity of cord blood units available for patients.

The Patels agreed the cord blood donation was the perfect way to make a difference and teach their son to do the same.

“He doesn’t even know it and he’s helping someone in need,” Nehal said.

At home that day, Nehal logged onto her computer to find out more, to find the public bank the woman told her about, the Carolinas Cord Blood Bank, an affiliate of Be the Match.

Nehal called the bank to determine whether she might qualify, and they asked her a long list of questions: Do you have any tattoos or new piercings? Do you have malaria? Do you have a history of blood cancer or sexually transmitted diseases?

Nehal passed the preliminary screening, and the bank sent her the collection kit for her doctor’s use.

All that was left to do was make her obstetrician aware of her plans.

Dr. Karen Creed, a member of the Women’s Health Associates, agreed to complete an online training and an assessment prior to the collection in order for the cord blood to be eligible for donation. So did the other doctors in the practice.

Moments after the Patels’ son, Shaan, was born, Creed collected the blood from the infant’s umbilical cord, and a family member shipped it to Carolinas.

“It’s so easy but it does so much,” Rohit Patel said. “It doesn’t cost us anything. It doesn’t cost our OB anything.”

The donation process involves taking blood from the cord and placenta after a baby is born. A mother’s labor and delivery are unaffected, and no blood is taken from the baby.

And so when the couple learned they were pregnant again in December, they decided to donate again.

According to Saadat, there are six donation centers in metro Atlanta: DeKalb Medical Center, Emory University Midtown, Grady Memorial, Piedmont Hospital, Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville and Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge.

Due to the high volume of deliveries, Northside Hospital isn’t affiliated with any bank, said Russ Davis, director of public relations.

“We encourage patients to discuss with their physician their desire to bank or donate cord blood during pregnancy,” he said. “Once patients select a cord blood bank and make the necessary arrangements for donation, Northside makes every effort to accommodate their request.”

Saadat said that expectant parents can also go online and sign up through Be the Match at www.btmcordblood.org.

“They’ll be asked a series of questions about their health, and it will either allow them to proceed or defer them,” Saadat said.

Doctors have known for years, she said, about the benefits of cord blood. The problem was a lack of donations, which remain low.

“The end goal is to make sure every patient gets the transplant they need,” Saadat said. “The more people who join the registry and also donate cord blood, the more hope there is for a potential cure.”

After the donation, she said the cord blood units are listed on the national Be the Match Registry and made available to any patient in need of a transplant.

Each year, thousands of patients rely on the registry, the world’s largest listing of potential marrow donors and donated cord blood, to find a genetically matched cord blood unit for transplant. In many cases, this is a patient’s only chance for a cure, Saadat said.

Last year alone, she said, Be the Match facilitated more than 1,100 cord blood transplants.

A recent survey of 1,000 U.S. adults ages 18 and older showed only 27 percent of respondents were aware of the option of donating cord blood. Consequently, less than half of the respondents said they would consider it if a donation program were offered at their hospital. The percentage of willing donors significantly increased to 66 percent, however, when respondents were given a brief description about the process and its life-saving potential.

Patel, who has been on a one-woman crusade to help raise awareness about the need, said that since she started sharing information about the need, at least three of her friends have donated.

Now she plans to donate again.

“If you don’t donate, you’re throwing away something that is so medically useful,” Patel said.