i think its an awesome example of capitalism and technology and science helping better our lives :3

We banked the cord blood privately for both our kids, at a cost of about $1,800 per child.

There is a chance it will help Carter.

Yeah, I'd do it again.

Thanks chansen.  I hope it helps Carter out!

I had looked into the costs a few years ago and was shocked by how cheap it was.  I thought with it being relatively new it would be about 10x the cost (not to be paid all up front though).

Btw, before the rumour mill gets going - no plans for any chemkids anytime soon.  I don't even think my doctor would be supportive of that right now!

Yeah,

I think everyone should get it done "just in case" :3

I wanted to do it when Rachel was born but given our finances at the time it was too expensive.  As it was, we had saved $10,000 in advance for me to take maternity leave and even with that, 8 weeks of top up pay and EI benefits, we still had to borrow over $5000 more to make ends meet and I went back to work over a month before my EI was over.  I've often wished I could go back and bank her cord blood.  It's great to think that everyone should do it, but everyone can't afford to do it.  In fact, I'd say the majority of people can't afford to do it.  At the time I had been teaching for 5 years and Jim was working, too.  It was 2006 and his car was a 1994 and mine was a 1998, and we were living in a relatively inexpensive townhouse.  We had a good family income and didn't live beyond our means, but cord blood banking was definitely cost prohibitive for us.

Mists, did you even consider doing it publically?

My husband and I were discussing it as a hypothetical gift (no one's pregnant that we know of right now), but I find the public bank to be interesting as well, especially if cost is a factor for not doing it privately.

I also wonder if the cost is worth it.  If a child ends up with a disease, it's likely that their stem cells might not be useful.  We're getting better at using adults' cells (from a simple blood donation).

The companies I looked into offer different payment plans.  There's the collection fees, but also the storage fees.  You can pay every year, or prepay for 18 years.  Right now, the storage technology is known to work for only 15 years.  My husband feels that even if after a few years it becomes redundant, it's not a great amount of money to loose.  I agree, but the thought of wasting money still bothers me.  Chansen - the thought of little Carter makes me feel like it's worth every penny!

I've heard of a few people who didn't do private banking because of the cost.  None of them opted for public, I'm not sure why.

Yes, chemgal.  We donated Rachel's cord blood for research.

Mists, a public bank is a little different than that.  It's like a private bank, but similar to blood typing the antigens are typed and if it is a match to someone, it is used.  Potentially, it could be used for the original donor.

Research is a good use to! 

Hmmm...I hadn't heard of the public bank or how it worked.  Now I wish I had done that.  

Does anyone think it's ethically or morally wrong to privately store cord blood if it could be used for others?

A one time bump, as I think some of the latest drama pushed this out of recent discussions.

we didn't store with our first two, but we did with our third.  the technology is still young, but we have seen leaps and bounds in recent years, so who knows.  we did it privately and pay a yearly storage fee. 

I don't know much about this topic, but I wonder....

If you don't pay your yearly storage fee, does the cord blood get moved from a private to a public bank?  Is it discarded?  Can either of those things be done without consent?  Is consent for those circumstances written into the original contract?

If I had kids (and sufficient dollars), I would store the blood.  I think it's a good idea for now - and until I saw research to the contrary, I would want to do what I could.

Good questions!  I didn't come across the answer just looking at the private banking sites.

It does appear that the public bank does more infectious disease testing, and will not accept more samples than the private banks.  I would assume that consent has to be obtained somehow.  The private companies seem to push for an all upfront fee, or at least short-term payment installments probably to avoid dealing with samples where storage fees aren't paid.

Maybe momsfruitcake knows?

That's a really good question.  From my perspective, it all comes down to money.  This is a potentially life saving procedure, but for many it is cost prohibitive.  Should the poorer child die while a wealthier child's cord blood sits untouched and unused simply because one family could afford it and the other family couldn't?  At the same time, should the weathier family have to give up their back up plan to save another person's child?  

How much would it cost to make cord blood storage mandatory across the country?  Each sample could be labelled with the child's name and that way each person would eventually be able to have their own cord blood banked.  Anyone who dies before using his/her cord blood will automatically have their blood donated to a public bank for those who were too old for the mandatory storage.  It's probably way too expensive, but in 80 years nearly everyone in Canada would have their cord blood stored, just in case.  Another option might be for people to pay for private storage but for gov't subsidies to be available for people who can't afford it.  

Mists, there's also the issue of one child's cord blood not being usable to them due to a certain disease, but another child's would work.

I would like to see the public blood bank better publized.  Even better, I think an opt-out option would be better than an opt-in (assuming a private bank isn't being used).  I would also like to see that done for organ donation in general, but that's another topic.

It would be great if there was enough cord blood to do both the private and public banking.  Unfortunately, we're not there yet, but if it were possible I think it would be great if private banking meant someone also had to donate to the public bank if it met the standards.