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The Family Link Cord Blood Storage Program is a service of Norton Healthcare for storing umbilical cord blood from newborns. Family Link, a private facility established in 1998, serves families within a four-hour driving distance from Louisville.
For more information, a detailed brochure or an enrollment packet for the Family Link Cord Blood Storage Program:
To speak with a member of the laboratory or clinical staff:
A baby’s stem cells are preserved from the umbilical cord and placenta at birth. The cells are kept at ultra-low temperatures through a process called cryopreservation and stored in the Stem Cell Laboratory at Norton Children’s Hospital for up to 20 years.
Family Link provides access to stored stem cells for transplants, one of the best methods of treatment for several types of leukemia as well as other cancers and diseases. Stem cell transplants can help your body rebuild blood cells destroyed by disease or treatments such as chemotherapy. Norton Healthcare is the only organization in the region offering a private cord blood-banking program.
Umbilical cord blood is rich in the same hematopoietic stem cells that form the basis for bone marrow transplants. Hematopoietic stem cells are the building blocks of red blood cells, platelets and the immune system.
Every year, 17,000 people in North America require a stem cell transplant for life-threatening diseases. To combat the shortage of available bone marrow donors, physicians have started using umbilical cord blood as an alternative source for stem cells.
Following the birth of a baby, the umbilical cord normally is clamped and separated from the newborn. After this occurs, the physician or midwife removes the blood from the umbilical vein. The whole process is painless for mother and baby. This process may be done at any facility, using supplies provided by Family Link and Norton Healthcare.
The blood is sent to the Norton Healthcare Blood and Marrow Transplant Laboratory and cryopreserved (frozen in vapor phase nitrogen) using established procedures and validated techniques. The cord blood is stored and reserved for the exclusive use of the donor or donor’s family.
Since the use of cord blood is relatively new, there is no definitive research on how long these cells can be stored; however, based on information from bone marrow cryopreservation, scientists believe that the cells will remain viable for at least 20 years, if not longer.
The cost of cryopreservation is $1,650, with a $125 annual fee for storage. Cord blood collection and storage generally is not covered by health insurance. There may be a blood collection fee charged separately by the physician. This should be discussed before enrollment in the program.
Intensive radiation and chemotherapy treatment for cancers and certain blood diseases require a patient to undergo a bone marrow transplant. The healthy stem cells from the stored umbilical cord blood may be used to “reseed” a depleted blood system and rebuild it.
For someone needing an allogeneic (from someone else) bone marrow transplant, a matching sibling’s cord blood could be used as a transplant option. This would eliminate the need to perform a bone marrow harvest — a surgical procedure requiring anesthesia.
When no other family members match, the process of finding an unrelated bone marrow donor can be very difficult, frustrating and expensive. At any given time, there is an average of 3,000 patients searching for a compatible bone marrow donor in the National Marrow Donor Program Registry. In addition, when receiving an allogeneic bone marrow transplant, there is a risk of graft-versus-host disease — a reaction in which the transplanted cells attack the recipient. With umbilical cord blood stem cells, the likelihood of having these adverse reactions is greatly decreased.
The ideal time to enroll in the Family Link program is 90 days or more before your baby’s due date. It’s not too late to enroll two to three weeks before the expected arrival, but keep in mind the collection must be scheduled to ensure supplies are available.
Stem cells can be used in the treatment of a variety of major diseases and serious medical conditions, including: