What is umbilical cord blood storage?
While the vast majority of blood storage is conducted for public use, individuals can pay for the services of a cord blood bank in anticipation of treating an existing or imminently probable disease that may develop over the course of their child's life. When a baby is born, parents will have the option to store the blood found inside the umbilical cord of a newborn baby, which is rich in blood stem cells, which have the ability to reproduce themselves into other types of cells. These cells can play a vital role in treating medical conditions like leukemia, sickle cell anemia or lymphoma, as injecting these cells can replenish a patient's blood supply with new, healthy cells. Cord blood cells can also be used to help the body recover from intensive cancer treatments like chemotherapy or radiation (American Pregnancy Association).
When a child is born, parents will have the option of paying to preserve this cord blood for their family member's future use by paying to store it in a private cord blood bank, having it disposed of or donating it to a public bank so it can be freely used by medical professionals to treat a wide range of potential medical conditions.