Cord Blood: To Bank or Not to Bank?

That is the question!

I have a wonderful patient who is actually the first person who made me really think about the option of banking Mckinnon's cord blood. She works for a local company that is actually owned by the great great grandson of Albert Einstein (i think..). His name is Dr. Einstein. Shocking, right?! But it is kind of funny! Anyways, he is apparently brilliant (according to my patient who I'm thinking may be slightly biased, lol) and he started a company a few years back to offer banking cord blood at a more affordable rate than some larger companies simply because he believes it is so important to have available to ALL people. You can check out his website here.

Since speaking with this sweet patient of mine, I've randomly received information from 2 other companies (viacord being one and I cant remember the other) filled with great information.

So I decided it was worth talking with my OBGYN about. I love and trust Dr. Pohl, and here is what he had to say. Even though most cord blood banking companies will tell you that the blood can be preserved for up to 18-20 years, research has only shown this to be true in very few cases. The more common time frame to expect is 8-10 years max. And, while most companies will tell you that the blood can help treat up to 70 diseases, most of these diseases are extremely rare. Emphasis on extremely. Lastly, according to Dr. Pohl, the likely hood that you will need the blood is 1:100,000 chance.

The cost for most cord blood banking is well over $2,000 with an annual fee of close to $300 to maintain the blood in the bank.

So, overall do I think that cord blood banking is a good option? Yes. Am I glad its available? Absolutely. Will Jeff and I be doing it? No.

I think that this is like paying for whole life insurance but only getting term. Does that make any sense? It's pretty expensive and not likely that you'll need it. If you did need it, boy, i bet the $2,000-$2,500 initial fee would seem like pennies! Its a risk that each of us who dont choose to bank the cord blood are taking. But it just doesnt seem likely to need it. At least we hope not.

And not that anyone plans on having more kids just to help a child they already have, but the fact is, lots of people who have found cord blood to be useful for one of their children did not bank THAT particular child's blood but rather, had another child, banked their blood and allowed it to be used for the sick child. Now, there could be lots of debates about that and I have no interest in getting into that.

Bottom line is, if you want to do it, great. But its a bit steep in price for us right now!

Hope you found this to be helpful or answer questions as to why we are going the way we are!