By Ben Joravsky
“The first operation to use cord blood was done on a boy in 1987,” says Dr. Richard Moldwin, director of the cord blood bank. “Overall, worldwide there have only been about 500 cord blood transplants. But when you consider there’s a backlog of at least 3,000 for bone marrow transplants, you can understand the need to build up the supply.”
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Part of her effort is to offer the public a few elementary facts about birthing. It’s through the placenta by way of the umbilical cord that the fetus receives its nourishment and oxygen, and, in turn, it’s from the umbilical cord that the placenta receives the fetal waste discharged for disposal. After the baby’s born the umbilical cord is clipped. The placenta is forced out by contractions and discarded.
The blood is taken to the Chicago Community Cord Blood Bank, processed, tested, and stored for up to ten years–an expensive undertaking that costs about $1,000 per unit of retrieved blood. “Generally we can get as much as four ounces if we’re lucky,” says Moldwin. “Sometimes we only get a drop.”
“The main disadvantage is that it takes longer for the bone marrow to regenerate after the cord blood transplant. It can take from a few days to a few weeks before you see signs that bone marrow has grafted or before the patient shows signs of making his or her own blood cells. But I think that problem will be solved in the near future by using stimulants that cause stem cells to engraft at a faster rate.”
“I relate to the mothers–at least I think I do. We laugh. I tell some jokes. I try not to make it sound too dreary, because it’s not. It’s a wonderful thing. I hope I can get them excited about the prospect of being on the ground floor of a major innovation.”
“Right now we don’t have the staff or money to handle much more blood than we have,” says Gallo. “Where will we get the money, who knows? That’s the next challenge. That’s always going to be the big challenge. But someday we’ll get our breakthrough. Maybe in ten years this will be a common procedure and there will be cord blood banks everywhere. We sure need them.”
