Donating Cord Blood in the UK

Expectant mothers and their families are advised to take on the noble deed of donating the umbilical cord of the baby upon birth.

The practice of donating umbilical cord or cord blood started in 1988 in the US. It was found that cord blood contains nutrients and properties that could potentially cure diseases involving the blood, the organs and the human immune system.

That medical breakthrough, although not that wide spread yet, has expended to reach the shores of the UK. The British medicine system and practice is very much open and willing to adopt innovations and new processes to help improve modern medicine.

UK-based cord blood banks which are NHS Approved

In the US, there are only a handful of hospitals and health centers that accept donations for cord blood. In the UK, since the practice and medicine practice is still new and not yet fully rolled out, there are only four cord blood banks.

To date, these cord blood banks can be found at the population centers of Bristol, Belfast, Newcastle and London.

Thus expectant mothers in the UK who may want or opt to donate their babies’ umbilical cords instead of let the hospital dispose or throw them out, can contact their local health authorities to facilitate the transport of the donation.

Perks of donating cord blood bank

Because donating cord blood can now be considered a good deed, the baby and his or her entire family is given the privilege to have access or service to cord blood therapies or treatments should they need one in the future.

Donating umbilical cord or cord blood can be less compared to blood donations or organ donations, but some doctors believe that in the future, it will equally be significant.

There are current studies that probe on the possibility that the cord blood can be the long-awaited cure to the notorious and alarming disease that has been plaguing societies around the world for years, the acquired immune deficiency syndrome or AIDS.

Indeed, birth is the beginning of life. The cord that had connected the mother and the child during pregnancy would eventually be another source of life, or a source of hope for extending a threatened one.