Introduction

To store your child's cord blood offers you as parents, the opportunity to give your child and family biological insurance.

The only time cord blood can be collected is immediately after the birth of your child, a process that is non-invasive and takes only a few minutes. Cord blood collection is performed by your delivering physician or midwife following sterile methods of collection.

The cord blood is then sent to Lifebank's accredited cryopreservation laboratory for processing and on-site storage. Processing is performed under strict laboratory conditions within 48 hours of the birth of your child to ensure the highest yield of cord blood stem cells possible.

The stem cells are then stored cryogenically for exclusive use by your family.

By having your baby's cord blood stored and immediately available, you will not have to wait until a transplant donor of compatible stem cells is found. Time is crucial and the chance of finding an identical matching donor is not always easy.

Donor cells from bone marrow also carry the risk of contamination from viruses, a risk that is proven to be very low with cord blood. Cord blood also offers the possible chance of being used by other siblings of the same parents or the parents themselves.