Banking stem cells
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Category: General Chat
Forum Name: General Chat
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URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=23689
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Topic: Banking stem cells
Posted By: jjands
Subject: Banking stem cells
Date Posted: 13 January 2009 at 9:02am
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Hi just wanting thoughts on this, we had always planned on using cord bank when the time came but I decided I'd look into and now I'm finding lots of articles saying it's not worth it..it's $5000 for 18yrs and your childs health is priceless but just wondering if anyone has had any experiences with doing this and how they found it? Has anyone had to acess their cord sample? General thoughts would be helpful Thanks |
Replies:
Posted By: Danaj
Date Posted: 13 January 2009 at 9:57am
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I was keen to do it but we just couldn't afford it. I would do it if I had the cash. ------------- http://www.TickerFactory.com/weight-loss/wyI1oWn/"> 
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Posted By: AandCsmum
Date Posted: 13 January 2009 at 10:00am
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I guess it's like paying insurance on your house or car....you might never need to use it but someday you might have too.
It's a hard call which would be very personal to each family I guess. Money being the biggest stumbling block ------------- Kel http://lilypie.com"> 
A = 01.02.04 & C = 16.01.09 & G = 30.03.12 |
Posted By: BugTeeny
Date Posted: 13 January 2009 at 11:05am
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I think I'd probably do it if there was an option of installment payments - much like an insurance policy, you have your monthly premium to pay, then an excess when you need to use it.
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Posted By: jjands
Date Posted: 13 January 2009 at 11:23am
| they offer finance now...apparently there is a 1/10000 to 1/2000000 chance of u ever using it. |
Posted By: kezplanet
Date Posted: 13 January 2009 at 11:43am
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We did it when we had Ashlyn, we were in a better position financially so took the opertunity while we could. We didn't pay it up front though, and I think the price has actually come down since we did it. I think it cost us roughly $3K up front and we pay premiums once a year, they have been $150 but as of this year go up to $200 because of the rising cost etc. We pay way more than this for car, household and other insurance inclucing our life insurance so to us its a small price to pay just incase we may need it at some stage. The news letters that we get are always giving new stories about how stem cells have been used to help cure different things and there is always more resurch going on to find out how it can help with new problems. In the latest issue they were talking about severe brain trauma and some other things that they are researching at the moment. ------------- Kerryn, Mum to Ashlyn(29/3/04), Anastasia(1/11/05) & Abigail (24/02/09) |
Posted By: jjands
Date Posted: 13 January 2009 at 12:11pm
theres a few articles saying that cordbank is very misleading...
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Posted By: emz
Date Posted: 13 January 2009 at 2:03pm
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I guess it depends on WHY you are getting it. For me personally, I couldn't get it for one child and then not for the others, to me (and just me personally) that would be putting a higher price on one child's health than the others.
My way of thinking on this issue is how many people do I actually know who could have benefited from using their own stem cells? While I know your body takes your own cells better, my family has never had any issues using artificial or donor parts. For this reason, we decided against it, but do have comprehensive medical insurance which covers everything, not just what stem cells may or may not be able to cure. |
Posted By: Danaj
Date Posted: 13 January 2009 at 2:08pm
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I thought it was about 5k when I looked it up? ------------- http://www.TickerFactory.com/weight-loss/wyI1oWn/">
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Posted By: MissCandice
Date Posted: 13 January 2009 at 2:18pm
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Also, do we do the stem cell transplant here? I dont think we do, i read an article about a family trying to raise $50 grand to get it done for there girl in another country..
Correct me if im wrong ------------- ~ Mummy to a beautiful girl ~ |
Posted By: jjands
Date Posted: 13 January 2009 at 2:23pm
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It's $5000 for your first child and $4800 for siblings.. yup we do it here privately through cordbank.co.nz if your midwife isn't trained in collecting the sample it costs u an extra $200 to have them trained. My side of the family is quite healthy and I'm sure DH's side would be too if they didn't drink so much lol so I'm wondering if the chances of needing it are great enough, or if that $5000 could be better spent on full health cover and other things ahhh can't decide
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Posted By: kezplanet
Date Posted: 13 January 2009 at 3:08pm
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I haven't read any negative articles about The Cordbank but then I haven't looked or done anymore research since doing it. Yup the pricing and structure of payments have changed over the last 5 years also, we have only done it for one child and although at the moment legally you are only meant to use the cells for the person that they come from I did speak to a lawyer at the time we were deciding and came to the decision that there would be a good/strong case to put forward if you were to need the cells for another child or next of kin if it meant they would save a life as aposed to just improving quality of life hence we look at it as a family insurance rather than just one child ------------- Kerryn, Mum to Ashlyn(29/3/04), Anastasia(1/11/05) & Abigail (24/02/09) |
Posted By: Emily281
Date Posted: 13 January 2009 at 6:01pm
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I found 2 interesting articles on it http://www.maternity.org.nz/pdfs/CORD%20BLOOD%20BANKING.pdf - Here and
http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/118-1208/1260/ - Here Basically what it says is that there are 2 types of storage - one for the person the cordblood came from and one for other people. Cordbank is only registered for the storage of blood for use in the person it came from. BUT most conditions treatable by stem cells they don't use cordblood from the patient because there is too much risk that what caused the problem in the first place will recur or not be fixed by using cordblood from the same person. So essentially most of the diseases listed as treatable/curable by cordblood on the Cordbank website and pamphlets aren't treatable by using the blood from the same person and they are not allowed to use the cordblood in another person. ETA - Kez while the lawyer is probably right, my guess is that it would require a long drawn out court battle and lots of publicity and the ethics would be called into question. ------------- TTC#1: Jan 07 Aug 08: Lap found and excised Stage 3 Endo Nov 08: 2nd lap clear - given OK to TTC after next AF |
Posted By: jjands
Date Posted: 13 January 2009 at 6:39pm
| Yeh those are the two articles I read-I've decided against it and as other people have said I will ensure my baby has the best possible medical insurance I can get! But positive thinking bub will be fine. |
Posted By: Febgirl
Date Posted: 13 January 2009 at 9:24pm
I'm sure your baby will be fine! 
We had it done for DD who was born last year - to be honest I wasn't 100% convinced on the merits but generous grandparents were very keen. We split the cost and paid $5000 upfront which covers storage costs until the baby is 18. I'm not too sure about #2 baby though - would feel really bad if we only did it for one child, but we can't really afford to do it for #2 and would feel bad about asking grandparents to stump up again... |
Posted By: jjands
Date Posted: 14 January 2009 at 8:50am
| yeh DH has got it for his 2 kids but he said last night we cant afford it for this one...It'd be just my luck this one will need it. |