What is cord blood?
Cord blood is the blood that remains in the placenta after a baby is born. Cord blood has been found to be a rich source of stem cells and is currently being used as an alternative to bone marrow in treating a number of life-threatening diseases. Because these cells are normally discarded after birth, this is the ultimate recycling project.

Why do we need the Texas Cord Blood Bank?
Sadly, this potentially life-saving option is not available to everyone due to the high costs associated with the testing, processing and storage of umbilical cord blood cells. The Texas Cord Blood Bank (TCBB) allows families the opportunity to donate their infant’s cord blood, regardless of socioeconomic status, to ensure that all patients needing a bone marrow/stem cell transplant are offered this opportunity.

More than 70% of children and adults requiring a bone marrow transplant do not have an immune matched sibling who could be a donor. In their case, the only option is to find an unrelated donor through the national bone marrow and cord blood registries. Because immune types are specific to ethnic groups, it is important to collect cord blood units from donors of all backgrounds especially Hispanics, African Americans and Native Americans.

Benefits of cord blood:

• There is no risk to the donor.
• Since cord blood immune cells are less mature, they are more easily accepted by the patient when used in transplantation. As a result, patients with a less than perfect immune match can now be treated
• There are fewer immune complications after transplantation.
• Since cord blood is banked and ready to use, it is immediately available when a patient needs it.

Some of the diseases currently treated with cord blood:

• Leukemia & other blood cancers
• Aplastic anemia
• Lymphoma
• Deficiencies of the immune system
• Genetic disorders such as sickle cell anemia

Goals of the Texas Cord Blood Bank:

• To build a cord blood bank that captures the rich ethnic diversity of Texas
• To develop a program that results in the highest quality units that exceed national and international standards.

Hospitals Partnered with the TCBB
San Antonio: Methodist, North Central Baptist, Southeast Baptist
Harlingen: Valley Baptist Medical Center
Brownsville: Valley Baptist Medical Center
Dallas: Medical City
New Braunfels: CHRISTUS Santa Rosa
Edinburg: Doctors Hospital
Houston: Texas Children's Hospital

How you can make a difference:
There are few public unrelated banks in the United States, each represents an ethnic mix unique to their geographic area. If you would like to make a contribution to the program, please send your donation to the Texas Cord Blood Bank, c/o South Texas Blood & Tissue Center. For more information contact Mary Beth Fisk.

Facts about the Texas Cord Blood Bank
The Texas Cord Blood Bank is a division of the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center in San Antonio. The Texas Legislature created the nonprofit program in 2001 to establish a statewide cord blood bank.

After years of planning, the Texas Cord Blood Bank first began collecting umbilical cord blood at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio in June 2005. Since then, new collection sites were opened at Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen, Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville, Medical City Hospital in Dallas, McKenna Hospital in New Braunfels and North Central and Southeast Baptist Hospitals in San Antonio.

Umbilical cord blood, which is normally discarded after a baby is born, is naturally rich in blood-producing cells.

Expectant mothers are asked to complete a questionnaire that includes their medical histories. There is no charge for donating umbilical cord blood.

These cells can be used as an alternative to bone marrow transplants to treat cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma; various blood disorders, such as sickle-cell anemia; and severe immune-system disorders.

Through this program, physicians drain cord blood from the umbilical cord and placenta shortly after a baby is delivered. Collections are then shipped to the Texas Cord Blood Bank in San Antonio where the blood is processed and tested.

If the blood meets all quality standards, it is then stored and made available to transplant centers. If a unit of blood can be matched with a patient in need, the Texas Cord Blood Bank will make that unit available to that patient.

Who benefits from your donation?
Today, Zachary is a bright, sunny boy with alabaster hair and twinkling blue eyes. For the first eight months of his life, Zachary’s therapy for a rare marrow disorder required many transfusions of platelets and whole blood to keep his fragile body going. Shannon and her husband, Matthew, tried to keep a positive attitude, supported by loving friends and family and a dedicated team of physicians.

After eight months, doctors said the agonizing treatments had not worked; he would need a stem cell transplant. In January 2002, he received his lifesaving transplant, thanks to a mother who donated the cord blood from her own child’s birth. “We were so scared, and we are so thankful,” Shannon says. “Because some mother selflessly donated a little bag of cells, my son is alive and well. She saved my son’s life, and I’ll never take anything for granted again.”

Before the transplant, every day was a fearful vigil at a sick child’s bedside. Today, Shannon says, “the worst things we deal with are colds and sniffles. He’s very healthy now.”