I called Duke University today and spoke with the assistant to one of the clinical trial directors over the Cord Blood program. Shane and I have been actively talking about cord blood treatments for Jonah because of his high likelihood for Cerebral Palsy.
Unfortunately because we did not save the boys' umbilical cords they said at this time in the case of potential CP or CP their protocol is to NOT treat with donor cord blood units as children must undergo rigorous chemo treatments which are life threatening (apparently they have to completely wipe out the immune system in order for the child to accept the donor blood). She said they reserve these treatments for cancer patients who don't have their own cord blood. She was very nice and said not to give up hope and that things are constantly changing as they have only recently started the cord blood treatments so things can improve over the next few years. Jonah is pretty young so maybe by his toddler years new, improved treatments will be available.
I am still saddened, Shane and I had prepared ourselves to sacrifice our savings to try and get Jonah in for a treatment.
Also, apparently Duke said they do not generally save umbilical cords for any birth earlier then 34 weeks. I guess I can stop feeling guilty that I didn't save the boys' as they were 24 weekers. I always have people asking if I banked their umbilical cords and no, in the moment of their early birth we were so worried about them even surviving that was the last thing on my mind. At least I can rest assured that even if we had insisted on banking things it probably would not have been viable enough for use.
1 comment:
My vote is Utah! Move to UT! Great cost of living (relatively speaking), great children's hospital within close proximity (a definite plus for us, as well), family and friends to help out . . . Sounds perfect, eh?
Speaking of, what kind of engineering does your hubby do? I'll keep my ears open for any opportunities.
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