The ITxM Clinical Services Cord Blood Services bank, based at LifeSource, works with the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). Together they help people in need of stem cells to locate an acceptable cord blood donation. The cord blood is kept frozen until it is matched to a recipient. It can stay frozen for many years.
If arrangements to privately store the cord blood have not been made or one does not wish to donate it, it will be discarded as part of the afterbirth tissue.

If one chooses to donate their baby's cord blood, the following process will take place. After the doctor or nurse determine that the mother and baby are in good condition and the cord has been cut and clamped, the leftover cord blood will be collected from the mother's side. The cord and placenta are drained and the tissue will be discarded according to the hospital routine. The collection is done by your doctor or nurse, after they determine that you and your baby are in good condition.

The mother will also be asked to have a small sample of blood tested. These tests are required to assure that the cord blood will be safe to give to another person, just as all blood donations are. All test results are strictly confidential. The testing laboratory will only have an assigned identification number to the sample, not the mother's name.

Cord blood collection is quick, pain-free, and will not interfere with the routine care of the mother or the baby. The mother will not be charged by the doctor, the hospital, the cord blood bank or NMDP for any part of the donation.

If one chooses to donate their baby’s cord blood so that anyone who is in need can use it, the following will be asked to:

• Complete a confidential maternal and family history form.

• Complete a consent form to indicate that the mother has decided to donate her baby’s cord blood.

• Provide a blood sample, drawn from the mother's arm at the hospital (no blood will be drawn from the baby).

• Have the baby’s cord blood collected, and sent to the ITxM Clinical Services Cord Blood bank.

All of the information provided to our bank, the blood sample and the baby’s cord blood will be handled confidentially by the Doctors, Nurses, Medical Technicians and other trained staff at the ITxM Clinical Services Cord Blood Services bank in the LifeSource, Chicagoland's Blood Center building.

In order to donate cord blood, arrangements must be made in advance of the baby's due date.  YOU MUST order a collection kit about 4-6 weeks before your due date.  The kit will need to be taken to the hospital with the mother.

If you live outside the Chicago area, please call the NMDP at 1-800-marrow-2 to be referred to a program serving your area.

If you live IN the Chicago area and have any questions or wish to request a collection kit, please call the ITxM Clinical Services Cord Blood Services bank at 1-877-GIV-CORD (1-877-448-2673), or complete the Cord Blood request form.

More links about Cord Blood Donations:

ITxM Clinical Services Cord Blood Services Cord Blood Bank

Chicago Defender - May 23, 2005