Life in lessons....

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Please note: I have to state (to be fair and ethical) that I work with bone marrow donations so this is a topic very close to me and one that I know fairly well. My daily work is researching factors to make donations better and safer to all parties involved. I do not work directly with Cord Blood, only with bone marrow either from the bones directly or from apheresis after treatment with specific drugs.

Last week Yane asked me about a <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/sandi1743/61970.html?nc=4">posting </a> that I wrote while ago on stem cells. It has been a hot topic for awhile now. I remember labs at the NIH being required to submit a list of stem cells lines that we had – just so that everyone was clear what was or was not in the labs.
One of the things that I have always said (here in journal postings, in the lab, and in RL) that should be investigated further is cord blood. I will once again state for the record that I do not as of yet, have children – but I have been asked my opinion a few different times on this topic, so here it goes. My biggest problem with cord blood is that there are companies <a href="http://www.cordblood.com/index.asp"> such</a> <a href="http://www.viacord.com/index.asp"> as</a> <a href="http://www.cryo-cell.com/index.asp"> these</a> they prey on parents worse fears of something happening to their children in the future.
Now a few things to consider when thinking about paying a lot of money to bank your child’s cord blood.
1. If your child developed a genetic disease, why would you give those same cells that caused your child’s illness back to them?
2. The likelihood of your child actually needing those stem cells - a very small chance that they would ever need them – and you could help another child with that cord blood.
3. The cost to backing, and then storing the cells when there is not guarantee that the cells will actually survive the freezing and thawing process (I have yet to really see any disclaimers from many companies on this issue – trust me I work with enough immortal cell lines to tell you that they are MUCH more incline to take the punishment of freeze thawing and that they do not always survive!)
4. Also, related to the cost – the amount of testing that is required for use is very expensive – some places do not even test the blood other than to make sure that it is HIV/AIDS negative, hepatitis negative, and to confirm the Rh factor as well as the blood type. High resolution testing for the <a href="http://www.drhull.com/EncyMaster/H/HLA.html"> HLA Typing </a> is VERY expensive!
5. Japan is the only country that is really using (with some success) cord blood for adults as there are usually not enough cells in cord blood for adults, so at this point, your child’s cord blood could only be useful up until the age of 14 or so (estimates varies).

But, please do not walk way from this posting thinking that I am against personal banking in every case. There are a few exceptions, but over all I think that parents would be much better off donating <a href="http://www.marrow.org/index.html"> their child’s cord blood </a> for the benefit of others.

Okay – I am back – at least for a bit. The move went – we have been there for about a week and half and things seem to be falling into place. We have curtains up – but not all tied back yet – we are deciding on where to put the pictures, and everything. There are a few more boxes (okay, prob a few more then just a few) and adjusting to living with one another.
Melissa is finding out just how smart Kitten is! He was “knocking up” for her last night. She kept on saying “come in” thinking that it was me, and finally opened up the door and Kitten was waiting there for her! He is so funny! She was amazed to say the least.
Finals are now over – I am just awaiting my grades and my annual review will be on Thursday –hopefully all will be okay with that. I don’t think that I have done the MOST miraculous job this year – but considering all that has been going on – I don’t think that I have done too bad. But we’ll see when the review comes out on Thursday!