A U.S mother believes her son is alive today because of a world first umbilical stem cell transplant.
Little Bennett Harbison was diagnosed before he was born in 2018 with hypo plastic left heart syndrome – a condition his mother Jennifer had never heard of.
It means the left side of Bennett’s heart did not develop and he was facing multiple surgeries through his life before needing a heart transplant.
But Dr Harold Burkhartt and his team from OU Children’s Hospital gathered some of Bennett’s umbilical blood at his birth, processed it and froze it until the stem cells were injected into the little boy’s heart when he was a few months old.
Doctors hoped this would mean his heart would grow more cells and become stronger, which is exactly what happened.
You can see Bennett’s remarkable story here and read more about his case.
Here’s a warning for the digital age – children learn more and remember better when writing by hand.
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology has found the brains of children more active when writing compared with typing.
It’s been studied a few times and repeatedly found that handwriting gives the brains more “hooks” to hang memories.
The same is true for young adults.
Read more
The answer is indefinitely. Cord blood stem cells don’t have an expiry date and the chance of needing to use them increases with age.
According to Frances Verter, the founder of the international independent site – Parents Guide to Cord Blood Banking it doesn’t make sense to invest in the up-front collection and processing fees and then throw out the investment.
“That would be like buying life insurance and then cancelling it because you have not died yet”
The science of cryobiology has demonstrated that cells which are cryogenically preserved remain viable for decades. Cord blood stem cells remain viable after being frozen 23+ years .
References:
Broxmeyer, H.E. Cell Stem Cell 2010; 6(1):21-24
Mazur, P. Science 1970; 168(3934):939-949
Nietfeld, J.J. et al. BBMT 2008; 14:316-322
To look at five-year-old Lucas Gutman you wouldn’t know he is living with a congenital heart defect.
His mum Jennifer says he is every bit as active as a typical kid – but the Ohio boy was born with HLHS – hypoplastic left heart syndrome – and became just the second such patient to undergo stem cell injections for the condition.
He was part of a clinical research trial at the Mayo clinic where regenerative therapies for the HLSH are being investigated.
The results are hugely promising and Jennifer says Lucas’ cardiologist wishes she could prescribe stem cells to all her HLHS patients.
Emma was born in Ukraine in 2015 but before her birth her parents were told she had spina bifida.
Spina bifida is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the vertebrae in the spine and the membranes around the spinal cord during early development of pregnancy.
Thanks to one neurosurgeon, Pavel Plavkiy, Emma’s cord blood was collected when she came into the world and very soon after she underwent surgery on her spine which used the cord blood.
Five years on, the only symptoms she suffers is some leg weakness. Her parents credit the use of the cord blood in the surgery for Emma’s progress. You can read her full story here.
This is a cord blood story that is both heart-wrenching and inspirational.
When Frances Everall’s family banked her cord blood with CordBank in 2002, they never dreamed it would be needed so soon and so dramatically.
But at four years old their daughter was diagnosed with a Stage Four Neuroblastoma (a deadly cancer) at Starship in Auckland. One of the options her family was given was to take her home to die. But armed with Frances’ own cord blood they fought back – and won.
A simple infusion of her own cord blood rebuilt her immune system after the rigorous cancer treatment and restored her to health. Today Frances is happy and energetic – with her cancer in full remission.
Frances Verter gave up a career at NASA to dedicate her life to telling expectant parents about the importance of cord blood banking.
When her daughter Shai was born, Frances did not know cord blood banking was an option and had no idea of how life-changing these stem cells could have been. Tragically Shai was diagnosed with cancer as a toddler and died the day she was due to start school.
“I didn’t know saving her cord blood stem cells was an option when Shai was born, and I know they would have saved her.” said Frances.
“Too many expectant parents are still not aware of the benefits of saving cord blood for the future. When you’re having a baby it’s so easy to focus on what colour to paint the baby’s room and which pram to buy rather than stopping to think about the benefits of saving your child’s cord blood stem cells for the future.”
“My deepest wish is that expectant parents will come to understand how the millions of unique cord blood stem cells in your child’s cord blood could save your child’s life if you’ve banked them at birth”.
Maia Friedlander was the first NZ child to be successfully treated with her own cord blood after suffering brain damage at birth.
Thankfully her parents, Jillian and Daniel, had this option because they had saved Maia’s cord blood stem cells with CordBank at her birth. These precious stem cells were re-infused when Maia was four years old and the results were life changing for her and her family.
Maia’s parents have a simple message for all expectant parents:
“You never know what can happen at your child’s birth or in their lives. But when you have their cord blood stored you have options.
Bank your baby’s cord blood with CordBank. You only get one chance and it’s a decision you’ll never regret.”
Scientists in London have developed a blood test which can detect which babies deprived of oxygen at birth are at risk of serious disabilities.
The Imperial College team working with groups in India, Italy and the USA say the prototype test looks for certain genes being switched on and off that are linked to long term neurological issues such as cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
The research was carried out in Indian hospitals, where there are around 0.5-1.0 million cases of birth asphyxia (oxygen deprivation) per year.
Babies can suffer oxygen deprivation at birth for a number of reasons, including when the mother has too little oxygen in her blood, infection, or through complications with the umbilical cord during birth.