Donating Cord Blood

Have you thought about the benefits of umbilical cord blood donation?

The Mason Shaffer Foundation and Community Blood Services have partnered to bring the first public cord blood program to the Philadelphia area—The Mason Shaffer Public Cord Blood Program at Main Line Health.

What is cord blood?

After the birth of a baby, the blood remaining in a portion of the umbilical cord and placenta is called placental blood, umbilical cord blood, or simply “cord blood.” This extra blood is not needed by the baby. All normal elements of blood—red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma—are contained in cord blood. It is also rich in hematopoietic (blood-forming) stem cells, like those found in bone marrow.

What are some benefits?

Cord blood stem cells can be used for transplantation instead of bone marrow because it does not have to match a patient’s tissue type as closely as bone marrow does. Stem cells found in cord blood are being used to treat more than 70 diseases including sickle cell anemia, malignant infantile osteopetrosis, cerebral palsy, and leukemia—just to name a few.

What are your options?

Please consider your three options in advance of your due date. You can choose to:

• Donate your cord blood to a public bank. This option is without charge to you and has the potential to help others.
• Bank your cord blood privately. This is an expensive option and, thankfully, the likelihood of needing it is remote.
• Do neither of the above two options. If you choose to do nothing with your baby’s cord blood it is discarded as medical waste.

Ask your doctor for details. You may pre-register to donate by using the online form.