The number of people banking their newborn baby鈥檚 cord blood is on the rise, as parents hope the stem cells within the blood could be used to treat their child should they develop a disease later in life. We鈥檝e聽looked at the evidence behind cord blood banking, but what is the experience actually like?
Alan* and his wife decided to privately store their son鈥檚 cord blood聽when he was born in 2005. 鈥淲e聽thought, if we are ever going to need this, we鈥檙e really going to need it,鈥� says Alan. 鈥淲e thought, let鈥檚 just go for it.鈥�
The couple had heard about cord blood banking, and had seen leaflets from cord blood banks in their local hospital. 鈥淎t the time, there was a lot of excitement surrounding stem cells,鈥� says Alan. 鈥淲e鈥檇 thought we鈥檇 err on the side of the potential for the聽future.鈥�
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That potential was worth the one-off fee of 拢2000 for Alan and his聽wife. 鈥淲e had to think carefully about spending that money,鈥� says聽Alan. 鈥淚t鈥檚 expensive, we didn鈥檛 know if we would end up using the cord blood.鈥�
Eleven years later, Alan did want to try using the stored blood. The couple鈥檚 son developed a heart condition called dilated cardiomyopathy, which leaves the heart unable to function properly.
鈥淚 had read about the possibility of聽treating his condition with stem cells,鈥� says Alan. 鈥淏ut a clinical聽trial of stem cells for his condition had been carried out a few years before, and found that it didn鈥檛 work, so the hospital that was treating him had no interest in using his cord blood. He ended up having a heart transplant.鈥�
Alan doesn鈥檛 know whether his son, or any other members of his family, will ever use the banked cord blood. 鈥淚t聽seems that the conditions cord blood could be used for are limited and聽rare,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e found ourselves in an extreme situation that聽we鈥檇 never imagined, and found out that we couldn鈥檛 use it. If forced, I would probably say that we wouldn鈥檛 go for it again.鈥�
*Not his real name
