Illinois TV Tackles Cord Blood

NBC5 in the Windy City recently provided a bit of umbilical cord blood banking and storage coverage. "Some Saving Umbilical Cord Blood" details a specific case in which cord blood-related strategies provided life-saving assistance for a patient.

The most interesting part of the Chicago NBC affiliate's coverage, however, is probably this argument:

"At Loyola University Medical Center, transplant pioneer Dr. Patrick Stiff said it's frustrating see patients die because what they so desperately need is treated as medical waste."

About 16,000 patients right now could be cured are not because they don't have a donor, but because cord blood is being thrown away," he said.

He said unless a woman donates it to a public bank or pays to personally store it just for her family, cord blood is being tossed."

We usually discuss cord blood an its potential in terms of how it could save people. When you describe the situation starkly in terms of how many people are suffering because of a lack of available cord blood, the need for banking and/or donation becomes inescapably apparent.

You can read the full story here.