No regrets about cord blood stem cell banking

Despite what any doctor may tell you about not needing your own set of stem cells (yes, there are a minority of doctors out there that still have audacity to actually advice patients against storing their stem cells!), it is also equally likely that should you be ill and need them, that you might be unable to obtain them in time for optimum treatment. This story showcases 2 families who banked their baby's stem cells when there was no apparent need to do so at the time, and used them to successfully treat their children.

The first story relates the experience of a 33 year-old father who banked his child's cord blood stem cells when his son was born in the year 2000. The family had no history of cancer, but his child developed leukemia and fortunately, since the stem cells were already banked, they were recalled quickly and managed to save his six year-old son. His advice to other parents is that this can happen to anyone despite the slim chances that most doctors and websites state and "if there's insurance against it: Buy it."

Now, almost a year after the procedure, the father can't understand why to bank or not to bank is even a question.

Quotes from the father: "I remember sitting there in the hospital thinking, what if we had never done that? What if we hadn't stored the cells?" he said. "Was it an act of God or fate that had our family doctor mention that one line about cord blood a few years ago? It's changed our lives, for sure."



The second story relates to Lisa Farquharson whose son Jesse was diagnosed with a rare form of eye cancer known as Retinoblastoma in 2001 and used his own cord blood stem cells as part of his recovery post chemotherapy.

Quotes from the mother: "We are the odds maker," Farquharson said. "We had no medical history. We were the family that should never have (banked). We proved the critics wrong."

"How guilty would we feel if we passed it up?" Farquharson said, noting she's felt the anguish of parents of ill children who didn't have the option to bank.

"We tell everyone they should do this. It saved our son's life. It's like spending money on a lottery ticket. But if you never use your child's stem cells, you win the lottery."


StemLife has enabled 2 successful cord blood stem cell transplants in Malaysia to-date and aims to make cord blood stem cell banking services affordable and accessible to all expecting parents.
Our StemLife family members bank their children's cord blood stem cell units hoping never to have to use them but in the knowledge that the stem cells have been placed in the care of good hands and are available for use whenever they are needed. :)