When a baby is born, it is
connected physically to its mother through a pipe like structure known as the
Umbilical cord. This cord is responsible for transportation of food, water and
oxygen to the baby through the mother. This cord is cut to detach the baby from
the mother. While the work of the cord might seem over here, it is not.
The umbilical cord contains
tissues and blood which are of very importance in medical science. The cord
blood is very rich in stem cells which have various uses in the treatment of a
lot of chronic diseases. What makes the cord blood of so much importance is
that:
·
It can be collected easily without causing any
harm to the mother or the baby.
·
The cord blood doesn’t require being an exact
match between the donor and the recipient.
·
The stem cells have the ability to distinguish
as well as regenerate into different types of cells and tissues.
While the cord blood is obtained
from the umbilical cord during the birth of the baby, parents have to consider
storing cord blood while they are pregnant. Storing the blood will prove to be
of very vital use in the future. There are options for storing cord blood for
Private (Family) Cord Blood Banking as well as Public Cord Blood Banking. The
family chooses to store the cord blood for the use for the family members in
the former case while they can also choose to make it available publicly as in
the latter case. There are a lot of families contributed to the cord
blood banking Canada and are
saving a lot of lives.
Cord blood stem cells with the
potential to help a lot of people are being discarded as waste. If it can be
used for a noble cause it must be.
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