Hi,

I was told by my doctor that banking blood was a very expensive 'insurance' policy and that there are very little diseases it can be cured.  I was also told that the cells collected are not truly stem cells because they are already in the form of blood.  What have you heard? 

We decided to do it at the last moment. We went with CBR, and I am so happy that we did. They sent us a package with all the diseases that it could cure and we were blown away. Your doctor is right it is an expesive insurance plan, but one well worth it. You really need to think ahead what if something happens and you had the chance to do something but you didn't. I highly recommend it.  We hope we never have to use it, but it;s nice to know that we have a back up plan.

I am with Cryo-Cell because of value, less price and good quality, (since I want to have it but I dont want to use it, I wanted to invest less but be covered)  I think storing those stem cells is worth it. You are right, the stem cells from umbilical cord are comited to blood type cells, but there is a small % that can be converted to other kind of tissue, and the research being done is very promising on curing many more diseases in the future. its expensive but a good investment. Take a look www.cryo-cell.com

This topic is fascinating and thanks for sharing the cryocell info....wow, decisions, decisions..

We donated our cord blood to the local blood bank. It was a very good experience and I would recommend everyone doing it if you don't plan on banking it.

We donated our cord blood, too.  You don't see as much advertising for it as you do banking it, but it is a great resource for medical study and advancement.  Banking it for yourself, when you don't have a family history, is a long shot and costly.  What a great benefit you can make, and a great example for your kids.  I think we used Cryobanks International, and it was so easy to do.  Please consider it!

Hopefully, there's never a need for the blood, but storing it is a form of health insurance and we didn't want to regret our decision down the road.

We compared ViaCord and CBR and ended up selecting CBR.  I called them with a list of questions and I liked their answers.  CBR was our OB's recommendation as well.

We initially thought cord blood banking was out of our price range, but we set up a gift registry at CBR and let our family and friends help defray the expense by contributing.  Also used the $250 coupon from
http://www.cord-blood-banking-coupon.com