Need advice for blood cord bank

[kawaiiko]

I'm expecting my first baby in May, and I'm thinking should I store her blood cord?
Anyone has done that? or any recommendation in Vancouver area?
Any suggestions is appreciated...

[susan123]

Congrats on your arrival to be!
I did store my cord blood due to my past health issues and the fact my husband is adopted with unknown medical history. It is expensive!!! I paid around $1000 for the initial kit/storage and then it is $125 per year. So, you will have to determine to cost vs potential benefit for yourself.

If you do decide to go ahead, you will need to contact some places soon as they need time for you to do the required bloodwork, etc. and time to send you the kit. As for the actual process, your dr. takes care of everything in the moments after birth - all you do is call to let the cord blood bank know to send a courier to pick it up.

Any centre, regardless of where they are located will service your area. However, check in to regulations in Vancouver. Some provinces only have annonymous cord blood banks - meaning they won't save it just for you. It just goes into a general "pool" however, if you ever were to need it later, you would have access to the "pool".

[kawaiiko]

Thanks a lot Susan123.
I'm looking at a plan provided by Healthcord, just as you said, the one year full package will be $1075 plus tax, pre-pay for 18 years is $2450, and pre-pay for 10 years is $2100. I'm thinking go with the one year plan, and pay $125 storage fee every year. Although 18 year plan seems can save a lot, but for me it's too much to put in at one time.

[l69norm]

I kind of had the impression that only a few hospitals in the GTA gave you the option for this?

[susan123]

To my knowledge all hospitals in the GTA collect cord blood upon request, as long as you provide them with the collection kit. In order to get a collection kit, which is available to all pregnant women, you just contact the cord blood bank of your choice, pay your fees, sign the forms and a collection kit is sent to your home. All you then need to do is bring with you to the hospital and tell the doctor. But yes, before you show up, it would be best to ensure the hospital and dr. you are delivering with knows how to collect the sample.

As one point of reference, I used Insception Bioscience http://www.insception.com/

[nelsonmp5]

Here in Oakville, they charged us to collect the sample. We saw 2 other couples do it as well so when Cells for Life came to pick up the samples, they got 3 samples with three times the pickup fees in one shot!
Keep in mind, these are just insurance policies. They are predominantly on used for blood or immunological disorders. It won't be a miracle cure, even in the future, unless cloning technology is approved.

[kawaiiko]

That's true, I'm still considering should I invest in this.

My friend has donated to the hospital.

I'm thinking if there's any authority helping people making decision on this?

[Bees]

We are from Toronto area, but ended up going with Lifebank, which is based in Vancouver area. We decided that since our kids are mixed, Caucasian and Chinese/Filipino, that we were going to do cord blood banking for them as it was another opportunity for them to use it, should it be necessary--with the belief that it is just as an "insurance policy" for them. The customer service is great, no problems encountered. Staff has always been kind and courteous when I'd call with any questions. We did banking w/our first daughter in 2005, and did it again this past Jan 2008 with our second daughter. The courier fee when you deliver on a Saturday or Sunday is just over 200 dollars, as they use Air Canada...but the fees are generally in line with other companies. No complaints from our side...and yep, will do this again with our third, whenever that will be. Oh, once you register and pay the reg'n fees with your first banking, you don't pay again for that part.
Good luck with your decision.

[S U]

Why did you choose a cord blood bank across the country? Especially one that has never completed a transplant. There are numerous cord blood banks in Toronto with much better reputations.

Cord Blood Bank List with Number of Transplants

Thanks for that link. I've called 2 places on the list that are within the GTA area.

I found that Cells for Life is very expensive. They seem to have fees that the other company I called includes. However, they have been around for a much longer time.

I then called Progenics Cryobank. Their prices seem to be more reasonable. HOwever, they collect leukocytes (which apparently the stem cells are in). They state that by collecting leukocytes they collect a greater range of stem cells.

Both companies seem to store the cells the same way.

I know people that have used Cells for Life for storage purposes. The owner is actually my fertility doctor, so there is some sort of comfort level there.

Progenics, however, collects leukocytes. Also, I was able to speak to Dr. Yang, that was able to give me info on this - albeit it was difficult to understand him.

I think I'm leaning towards Progenics, both for the cost and the ease with which to speak to the Dr. also because they claim that collecting leukocytes is better than just extracting the stem cells.

I'd love to hear from anyone that may have used either of these companies.

[Jonavin]

We used Cells For Life. You'll have to weigh the costs and service differences for each company. Just pick one with lots of experience and a track record for doing this type of service.

You should consider whether you should do it at all since for most people there's probably a 3% chance that you'll ever use it. So I would treat it as a luxury insurance policy. If that $1000 and $100/yr is needed for necessities then I wouldn't bother.

The other option is to donate the stem cells. Consider doing that even if you decide not to store it privately.

[ghettogal]

I'm also looking into cord blood banking and I was actually going to post a new thread to see what other ppl's opinion was. I also asked my doctor and she had said it's best to go with a blood cord bank that's accredited. I checked and there's only 5 in Canada.

CANADA
Cells for Life Ltd
Markham

CANADA
HealthCord Cryogenics Corporation
Vancouver, BC

CANADA
Insception Biosciences
Mississauga

CANADA
Lifebank Cryogenics Corp
Burnaby

CANADA
Progenics Cord Blood Cryobank
Toronto

http://www.aabb.org/Content/Accredit...od_Facilities/

What do you guys think??? from the previous comment it looks like Progenics Cryobank is the better choice.

[lochlan651]

My wife's OB/Gyn had a baby 9 months before we did, so we asked her what she did, and she said she did NOT use a cord blood bank. We had a discussion about it with her, and came to the same conclusion we had.

The people getting in now are paying for the research these companies need to actually make this a viable operation for the entire community.

That was good enough for me. We trusted her to deliver the baby, so we trusted her with this decision.

And just for reference sake, she is a nationwide expert on OB, appearing on all of the major TV Networks and newspapers as a commentator on all sorts of pre and post natal issues, combine that with the fact she did not do this with her own child, was enough for us.

[tkl]

We used Progenics for our kiddo. No probs. I've gotten 2 years free due to the 2 referrals that I've passed on.

[looniepincher]

We're probably not going to do it but for those interested, you might want to know our ob/gyn's opinion on the matter.

She basically reiterated that it should be considered a luxury insurance policy that probably won't get used. She said if we're interested, she recommends Inception, Create, and a third that I don't remember the name of.

[royaljelly]

My friend had a nightmare with Insception. Both her and her mom are physicians in GTA, and it was her mom (who's an OB/GYN and practices at Mt Sinai hospital for over 30 years) who personally drew the cord blood.

Later on, they got a letter from Insception saying that there was not enough blood drawn and their sample couldn't be processed. They were shocked.

Thus far I've been happy with our decision to go with Progenics for our first son. I work in that same building where the samples are stored, and there was a rooftop fire not too long ago, in very close proximity to the Progenics lab. I panicked that our son's samples would be in jeopardy, but after doing a quick tour of their facilities again, everything was in perfect condition.

Now we have a second baby on the way, so we're debating whether we should go with another company this time around just in case, rather than putting our eggs all in one basket.