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Maya
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Topic: Cord blood banking Posted: 28 March 2008 at 1:24pm |
Has anyone else looked at doing this?
I looked at it with Maya, and again with the gremlins, and decided against it ultimately because it is so expensive.
But I just interviewed a lady who's son had cerebral palsy and was cured by a transfusion of his own cord blood stem cells and she put it into an interesting perspective - we pay an annual fee to insure our cars, our houses, our contents, why wouldn't we pay to insure our children's health?
It's certainly made me think twice, now I feel almost COMPELLED to do it, especially with advances in technology that are expanding the uses for stem cells, and the possibilty of using them for siblings if they are compatible.
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Maya Grace (28/02/03)
(02/01/06)
The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
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cuppatea
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Posted: 28 March 2008 at 1:33pm |
We did it, they have finance options. We had to pay $450 up front and then the rest was on credit (about another $2000). We actually managed to save that money though and payed it in full. I had took the maternity option which meant that we didn't start paying for 6 months.
Worth every penny as far as we are concerned and no question we will be doing it with the next one too.
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Kellz
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Posted: 28 March 2008 at 1:36pm |
Where can u get it done? What happens if u arent in Auck or a big city?
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Maya
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Posted: 28 March 2008 at 1:39pm |
I think you can get it done anywhere, the lady I interviewed said that if your LMC doesn't know how to do it, Cord Bank will provide a trained nurse at your delivery to collect the cord blood. Cord Bank provides you with a kit with everything you need to do it.
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Maya Grace (28/02/03)
(02/01/06)
The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
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cuppatea
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Posted: 28 March 2008 at 1:48pm |
Yep you pay a storage fee each year which is $150 or you can pay to have it stored for 18 years at a lower fee.
We are in chch the pack got couried to us, my mw refused to do the training so cord bank arranged for another lady to be present to do the collection and then it got urgent couried back to Auckland. If you midwife agrees to do the training (most do as they get paid for doing the collection) the cordbank train them and it doesn't cost any extra.
They have a website which explains everything.
http://www.cordbank.co.nz/
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cuppatea
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Posted: 28 March 2008 at 2:48pm |
Under nz law it can only be used for the person who is was taken from but they are pushing for that law to be changed so that it can be used for other family members especially siblings where the compatability is higher.
Is such a shame with the laws over here, in England you can just choose to donate the stem cells and it doesn't cost anything. (I think it costs if you choose to store privately though).
We would have donated them if it was an option here.
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Maya
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Posted: 28 March 2008 at 2:57pm |
I asked the lady that and she said that you can get ethics committee approval here to use it for siblings, but that blood type isn't an indicator of compatibility, it's something called HLA, but there is a higher rate of compatibility between siblings than non relatives. Which is a bugger as all 3 of mine are A+ if only it were that simple.
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Maya Grace (28/02/03)
(02/01/06)
The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
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Maya
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Posted: 28 March 2008 at 3:02pm |
Yeah, but you KNOW it's a definite match for at least one of them so it's not a total gamble.
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Maya Grace (28/02/03)
(02/01/06)
The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
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Nefertiti
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Posted: 28 March 2008 at 3:41pm |
It says it currently used to treat 45 diseases.
Is it affected if the baby is already born with one of those disorders (that was not previously known)...will is still help the child?
I also read this:
What if it doesn"t go ahead?
Sometimes it´s not possible to collect 25 ml or more of cord blood, or sometimes the blood cannot be collected for other reasons. If the collection doesn"t go ahead for any reason, you will be refunded all but your initial $500 registration fee.
I think that sucks...especially if the person wasn't able to collect 25mls in the first place.
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blondy
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Posted: 28 March 2008 at 3:48pm |
Blood typing indicates the type of antigens expressed on red blood cells only, whereas stem cells (which are the 'magic' multi-purpose cells obtained from cord blood) are different and express different markers on their surface that every other cell in our bodies also expresses (namely HLA - human leukocyte antigens). There are many many markers, but I think they test for the major 10-20 of them when doing things like matching bone marrow donors etc.
Any stem cells that are able to be used later on in your child's life (touch wood it never needs to happen!) will probably only be suitable for that child (unless a sibling has a high rate of matching for the HLA's). And then as previously said, the ethics approval would still have to be obtained.
I think it's a great idea, although slightly costly!
Edited to add: re: Nefertiti's comment - I'm not sure about that either. In theory if your child is born with a genetic disorder, the stem cells in the cord blood may well also have the same problem.... I might have to do some more research before I decide whether to go for it or not...
Edited by blondy
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Nefertiti
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Posted: 28 March 2008 at 4:03pm |
I would say though that if they are able to treat the condidtion, then the baby was obviously predisposed to that condition..
And then...how much does it cost to actually get it out and then cost of using it if its needed...
Here's a video clip from the site cuppatea posted:
http://www.cordbank.co.nz/breakingnews.htm
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Maya
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Posted: 28 March 2008 at 4:08pm |
The child who's mother I interviewed had Cerebral Palsy which is a brain injury rather than a disease, but I know they can also be used to treat leukaemia in childhood which is something that develops rather than being born with it, but I'm not sure about pre-existing conditions that they are born with.
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Maya Grace (28/02/03)
(02/01/06)
The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
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cuppatea
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Posted: 28 March 2008 at 4:59pm |
Nerfertiti, there are lots of reasons why they can't collect the sample, be it an emergency at the birth, they aren't able to get enough blood or if the mum has HIV or hepatitus then they just throw it away as well. What you have to remember though is that they have already sent you a pack full off all the vials needles etc, they have paid for someone to be trained and also they pay the mw to do the collection ($120) for the urgent courier to take it to auckland and for there lab to process it, that's what the $500 covers and I really don't think that they could refund it. I actually think considering what is involved they are justified in making that portion of it non refundable.
I don't know about pre-existing conditions either, but I do that new research means that more and more things are being able to be cured using them and even so 45 is better than none.
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Nefertiti
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Posted: 28 March 2008 at 5:12pm |
Well I guess when its an emergency...but still.
And if the mum had HIV or hepatitis, then this would hopefully have been picked up in earlier blood tests before baby is born.
Despite all their admin cost, I was not aware that they send out a pack full of vials and needles etc...
I guess I'd just be frustrated if the trained person was not able to collect the 25mls if there was not an emergency, and I still had to pay.
Just my point of view anyway
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cuppatea
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Posted: 28 March 2008 at 5:26pm |
Yeah it would be annoying and I would have been gutted if it happened to us but they do really make sure that you are aware it can happen. There are other things that the mum can have as well but HIV and hepatitus were the two that I remembered.
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MissAngel
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Posted: 28 March 2008 at 5:51pm |
Thats disgusting (the price) It should be free :/ Theres no way we'll be able to afford to do that!
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cuppatea
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Posted: 28 March 2008 at 5:56pm |
Yeah it should be free, good luck convincing parliament that though
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Paws
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Posted: 28 March 2008 at 6:53pm |
It would be nice if it was free or at least subsidised!
We looked at it last time but the price stopped us...we'd consider it with number 2 though, especially with me now bringing in more money could be an option when the time comes.
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Maya
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Posted: 28 March 2008 at 7:07pm |
I like that they have a payment plan too, they never had that when I had Maya.
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Maya Grace (28/02/03)
(02/01/06)
The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
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cuppatea
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Posted: 28 March 2008 at 7:50pm |
Yeah I think we would have struggled without the payment plan, plus we found out about it early into the pregnancy so was able to just add cord blood banking to the massive list of all the stuff we had to get and then budgeted for the weekly payments as well.
Funny this came up today cos when DH came in with the post there was a newsletter from Cordblood about different cases, think one must be the story of the lady who you have interviewed from what you have said.
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