Medical Testimonials
Read what medical experts have to say about the importance of cord blood banking
Doctors recommend cord blood banking
"I let my patients know that cord blood banking is an excellent opportunity to give your child the tools to potentially improve his/her life, should an unexpected injury or disease occur. We are only at the tip of the iceberg regarding what we can do with cord blood stem cells."
Katherine S. Puls, CNM, Obstetrics and Gynecology
"I strongly recommend that all expectant parents ask their doctor about the lifesaving potential of cord blood... Today, cord blood is being used to treat such life-threatening diseases as leukemia and other cancers, as well as certain blood and immune disorders that formerly necessitated a bone marrow transplant."
Dr. Marianne Neifert, Pediatrician
Baby Talk Magazine, October 1997
"I tell my patients that cord blood banking is the future of medicine and that it has miraculous transplant outcomes. Also, I let them know that umbilical cord blood banking is an insurance policy for the life of their child in the future."
Harold L. McLendon, MD, Obstetrics and Gynecology
"...Some might argue that there is little to lose (except money) by freezing one's cord-blood stem cells. If they are needed, fine; if not, even better."
Robert Peter Gale, M.D., Ph.D.
Executive Committee Past Chair International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry (IBMTR)
"I recommend that my patients look into cord blood banking as it has many applications for the future. I let them know that they can't use their other sibling's banked cells for regenerative medicine. They need their individual cells."
Mary C. Pitcher, MD, Obstetrics and Gynecology
Marietta, GA
The promise of cord blood stem cells
"The promise of stem cells in the prevention and treatment of many diseases, including cancer, is so immense that it would be almost irresponsible for research on this technology to be marginalized... [We] should also never lose sight of the tremendous lifesaving possibilities of this technology."
Statement of Dr. Joseph Bailes, President Elect of the American Society of Clinical Oncology before the House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Labor, heath and Human Services, and Education, April 21, 1999.
"Just like we didn't envision the powers of PCs thirty years ago, we may not be seeing all the uses of cord blood yet."
LeeAnn Jensen, MD
Immunologist National Institutes of Health
"As a critical care nurse I am in the business of helping people in times of crisis every day. The technology of cord blood banking gives me a chance to make a difference proactively. I am a firm believer in 'always being prepared.' The possibilities for the future in gene therapy using cord blood are exciting. I can't wait to see previously chronic diseases become curable. ."
Janine Henson, RN
"[Cord blood stem cells] might be suitable for transplantation in neurodegenerative diseases, gene delivery to the central nervous system, and repair of brain and spinal cord injuries."
Juan R. Sanchez-Ramos, Shijie Song, Siddharth G. Kamath, et. al.
Experimental Neurology, 171, 2001
Cord blood stem cell use today
"About 40% of the desperately ill patients who need bone marrow transplants never get them, because a donor who is an exact match can't be found through family connections or by the National Marrow Donor Program. Two reports in the New England Journal of Medicine strongly suggest that many of these patients could be helped by transplants of stem cells from placental [cord] blood, which is routinely discarded after babies are delivered."
"Top Ten Medical Advances of 1996," The Harvard Health Letter, March 1997, Vol. 22, No. 5
"Recipients of cord-blood transplants from HLA-identical siblings have a lower incidence rate of acute and chronic GVHD than recipients of bone marrow transplants from HLA-identical siblings."
Vanderson Rocha, MD, John E. Wagner, Jr., MD, Elaine Gluckman, MD, et. al.
New England Journal of Medicine, June 22, 2000
"The ultimate goal is for all usable umbilical cord blood to be banked in a national cord blood [bank] similar to the National Bone Marrow Donor Program or saved for an individual's of family's own potential use. The latter may prove especially significant for those with a family history of leukemia or cancer or for minority ethnic patients."
Nursing Spectrum, February 24, 1997
"Through cultivation of stem cells extracted from the cord blood, patients with spinal injuries have a great chance of having their damaged nervous system repaired, helping them to rise on their feet again."
Chiang Yung-Hsiao, MD, PhD, Chairman of Neurosurgery Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
"Umbilical-cord blood from unrelated donors can restore hematopoiesis in adults who receive myetloablative therapy and is associated with acceptable rates of sever acute and chronic GVHD."
Mary J. Laughlin, MD, Juliet Barker, MD, Barbara Bambach, MD, et. al.
New England Journal of Medicine, June 14, 2001
Read what medical experts have to say about banking cord blood with CBR
"I tell patients why cord blood banking is so important - especially with the future of regenerative medicine and that CBR is truly the "Gold Standard" for cord blood banking."
Eileen Krim, MD,
Obstetrics and Gynecology
"I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for the service your company provided one of my patients. We had a patient come to our unit suffering from leukemia who delivered quickly and needed to have her cord blood banked as quickly as possible. There was an urgency to this case that tugged at everyone's hearts and your employees went out of their way to help this family. My nursing staff was so impressed by [your] response that they were singing their praises to me. We are always so focused on what our patients need and it is such a pleasure to work with others who also are committed to providing true care to patients. That is what...[you] did. Thanks from my staff and myself."
Laura Sera, RN
Patient Care Manager Center for Mother's and Newborns
UCSF Children's Hospital
"I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease last year and was, like anyone else, overwhelmed with the treatment process. As a mother of one, I wish that I was made aware of the wonderful option to bank cord blood when my son was born. I have vowed to myself and the memory of those who have had similar experiences to mine to dedicate my time and energy in educating health professionals and parents-to-be on the importance of banking with Cord Blood Registry! Take it from someone who knows, bank your baby's cord blood, it could save a life, even your own!"
Heidi A Blackledge, LPN, CCE
"It is obvious to me in my practice and in my discussions with other patients that the group most ready to choose private cord blood banking for their own pregnancies are physicians. And many are pediatricians."
R. Nathan Slotnick, MD, PhD
Director of Reproductive Genetics, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine
Eastern Virginia Medical School

