• The first umbilical cord blood transplant was done on a little boy from France with a disease called "Fanconi Aplasia". The boy is now a young man of 25 and doing well.

• Umbilical cords have traditionally been discarded as a by-product of the birth process, now they hold so much more significance when it comes to treating disease.

• In recent years, the multipotent-stem-cell-rich blood found in the umbilical cord has proven useful in treating the same types of health problems as those treated using bone marrow stem cells.

• Umbilical cord blood stem cell transplants are less prone to rejection than either bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells. 

• Both the versatility and availability of umbilical cord blood stem cells ("seeds of life") makes them a potent resource for transplant therapies.

• The benefit of cord blood is due to the fact that many children with diseases treatable by bone marrow transplants do not have immediate availability of a suitable donor match (either related or unrelated).

• Umbilical Cord Blood is rich in stem cells, which are immature (hematopoietic or blood-forming) cells that turn into platelets, red blood cells and infection-fighting white blood cells

• Hematopoietic stem cells divide to form more blood-forming stem cells, or they mature into one of three blood cells

1. White Blood Cells     -    fight infection
2. Red Blood Cells        -    carry oxygen 
3. Platelets                    -    promote healing

 Click on the Butterfly to learn about the advantages of Cord Blood...