According to today’s knowledge, medical scientists believe there is a high probability that a child will use stem cells from their own umbilical cord blood later on in life. It is at least 1/400 – and growing.
(10)Stem cells from umbilical cord blood which have been properly prepared for storage may get older than we do. All research up to now suggests that cryopreserved cells have virtually unlimited viability. This means that it is likely that they can be kept deep-frozen until we need them. Cryo-Save is totally committed to cryopreservation research.
Of course, adults can also be treated with umbilical cord blood, and in fact, they currently make up the majority of patients. Sometimes the amount available is not sufficient and the doctor needs to use additional stem cells from a different source. As far as regenerative medicine is concerned, the amount of stem cells is less relevant. Even a small amount could be sufficient to activate the regeneration of tissue.
Only 30-50% of all donations are actually stored in a public bank, the rest are discarded. Consequently, there is no guarantee that your own donation will be available at all. Even if it has not been destroyed, it cannot be guaranteed that it has not been given to someone else the moment your child needs it. Private storage is the only way this can be ensured.
It would be nice if it were that easy. It is true that bone marrow does contain stem cells. However, these age in the same way as the body, potentially losing both their vitality and usefulness and could be affected by the same diseases as the rest of the body (e.g. type II diabetes). In contrast, stem cells from the
umbilical cord are young, fresher and relatively unaffected by diseases, thus offering much more flexibility. The umbilical cord also contains a wider range of stem cell types than bone marrow.
