Umbilical cord stem cells are categorized as adult stem cells because a human being has formed. They are more stable. Embryonic stem cells from fetus are not and much more unstable. Umbilical cord blood would be treated as a medical waste otherwise.
Furthermore, ask a CP child who was crawling before the cord blood transplant to walking after the transplant even if he was not 100% cured of CP if it was worth it. Ask a child who could not raise the spoon to feed herself before the transplant to able to do so after if it was worth it. Ask a parent of a CP child who could not jump before the transplant to be able to participate in birthday party jumpers if it was worth it. These was written before by Dr. Joann Kurtzberg at Duke University that did the trials. I would not want to be the one who’s words could potentially damage the chance of a family’s possibility. I applaud Anja for making this possible for all income types.
I have looked around, Anja is the cheapest. Other company has a big upfront cost that is around $1000 or more, not Anja. In the long run, it is also cheaper.
Donation is a good idea. Except that even with a match from the public bank, the survival rate from transplant is half of what would be if you use your own or related cord blood. I think racial differences has always been overlooked in the medical board recommendations. Angela Julie recently commented on her own experience given her Children’s racial diversity.
Like I said, you forgot to mention that the bigger player charge upfront fee of around $1000, some at $1500, not just the annual fee. Second, ask thousand of families who benefitted from cord blood, to them, it is 100% chance of using.
Anja has $35 per month for 8 years paid for 20 years of storage. The big player you have mentioned charge around thousand at the beginning and then an annual fee of around $165 for every year. Yes, Anja is the cheapest so far.
I think people do not realize that blood is the lifeline of human being. Cord blood banking has the cells frozen at the youngest age possible. Cord blood rich with stem cells and immune cells and exosomes can be infused back to the baby herself or himself for the rest of her or his life. Because it is his own blood, just rich with the youngest and healthiest cells of every type. So theoretically, the cord blood should never be wasted. Ten years ago, there was no cord blood treatment for cerebral palsy. Now they do. Just ask thousands of families around the world. Science develops, but for the children, they only have one chance to bank and they cannot even make this decision without being represented by the parents.
