"I believe cord banking is well worth the investment for a family's future, and parents should strongly consider making use of this valuable service.” – Dr. Robert Sears, pediatrician, CBR medical consultant, FAACP

Several years ago, when my wife was pregnant with our third child, I remember sitting in our obstetrician's waiting room together while my wife flipped through the latest pregnancy magazine.

"Hey honey, look at this!" I heard my wife say. She showed me an article about cord blood stem cell banking.

My wife felt strongly about banking the baby's cord blood because she had cancer as a teenager. She wanted to take every precaution for our kids, and having cord blood stem cells available in case our family should ever need them gave her peace of mind. Of course, we hoped there would never be a need but, as I looked into newborn stem cell research, I found there were many more possible future uses beyond treating cancer. This is really what got me excited about banking our baby's blood. I decided to invest in our family's future.

There are several private cord blood companies to choose from, and I spent days reading their literature and scrutinizing their websites.

Reasons We Chose Cord Blood Registry:

• CBR has done more transplants than any other family bank. Samples released for transplant were viable and completely usable
• CBR was the first cord blood bank to become accredited by the AABB and is a proven leader in the industry
• CBR has more processing experience than any other cord blood bank, and owns and operates their own storage facility
• CBR stores their samples in units with multiple compartments. Scientists are currently working on techniques to expand the stem cells stored in a single cord blood sample. If the technology becomes available, it could be advantageous to have your sample stored in this way.
• CBR is a financially strong company with a stable future outlook and has been storing cord blood almost 20 years

Deciding whether or not to bank your baby's cord blood is a personal decision. But parents only have one chance with each child to take advantage of this technology. When choosing where to store your child's cord blood stem cells, it's important to ask questions and research your decision carefully.