People want to pursue a long and healthy life and the good news is, humans are living longer than ever. Medicines, ventilators, surgeries, and overall better nutrition have brought the national average way up. The bad news is that long life means more possibilities of getting a disease, and not all maladies can be successfully cured. Some, like cancers, can be fatal.
Fortunately, the last few years have seen unprecedented advancements in scientific research into umbilical cord stem cell preservation, which shows tremendous promise for treatment of diseases that up until now were very difficult to treat. People now have the option to store stem cells with HealthBanks to preserve cells that can possibly save the lives of you or your children in the future.
Stem Cell Preservation
One of the most exciting developments in science in the last 30 years is the discovery of stem cells in umbilical cord blood. Stem cells are highly adaptable cells that can be cultured to be converted into cells in its proximity. This truly groundbreaking discovery shines a light on the future of curing cancer, since stem cells are often exposed to the body’s own immune cells, which can be used to fight cancer.
These stem cells come from either a newborn baby’s cord blood or cord tissue. These are a rich resources to harvest for young stem cells. Cord blood also contains red and white blood cells, platelets, and plasma. These vital cells can be used to fight a host of diseases and also be used for transplantation, prompting a growing share of people opting to store stem cells with HealthBanks.
Insurance for Your Family’s Health
Often, those who are being treated with cell immunotherapy against cancers must wait for a donor to match, and it is not always easy. Only five out of every 10 Caucasians find a perfect match, only one out of every 10 Asians, and the number drops even lower for other ethnicities.
When you bank stem cells, you are guaranteed a perfect match for your child, and stand a fairly high chance that these cells could contribute to immunotherapy for their siblings as well. This saves you the time spent and anxiety that comes with waiting for a donor that is a perfect match.
Cell Therapies
Since 2001, when HealthBanks began, the body of knowledge about stem cell immunotherapy has grown. Experiments with stem tissue cells have unearthed new possibilities in the fight against serious diseases, and discoveries are still being made.
Chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy (commonly known as CAR-T therapy) has proven particularly useful in fighting cancer. CAR-T therapy involves synthesizing T cells from stem cells harvested from the patient’s cord blood. These T-cells are the key to vital immune responses, and they can be engineered to adapt to the cancer’s antigens, attacking the cancer that a patient’s immune system is not capable of handling. Similar cell therapies exist for many different cancers.
Current & Possible Future Treatments
In its short 15 to 20-year history, research into cord blood and cord tissue stem cells has yielded a great number of treatments for sicknesses that were considered almost untreatable. Stem cell preservation has contributed to the discoveries of treatments for some forms of leukemias, sickle cell anemia, osteoporosis, Hodgkins’ Lymphoma, and a host of others, and many experiments are in the latter phases of research for treating autism, spinal cord injury, Crohn’s disease and diabetes. Cord blood and tissue cell therapies are estimated to be able to treat or cure over 80 different diseases.
Store Stem Cells
Choosing to store stem cells is an invaluable investment in you or your child’s future, and it’s an act that could save your life. It’s a simple and safe process from collection to preservation. With HealthBanks, you can bank stem cells for decades, guaranteeing peace of mind and protection against some of the world’s worst diseases.