Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Smart Cells cord blood storage. Experience?

46 replies

kittyonthebeam · 26/08/2010 08:27

Good morning ladies,

about to have my second baby and trying to decide where to bank the cord blood. As some of you know I am abroad but this company is UK based and offering the taking of stem cells and storage of baby's cord blood at birth. I'm 4 weeks away from my due date so have to make a decision.

Have any of you previously used them? What were your experiences, thoughts?

Any advice appreciated. TIA!

www.smartcells.com/about-smart-cells

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

MacMomo · 26/08/2010 09:04

How much does it cost? Sounds interesting.

TheFruitWhisperer · 26/08/2010 09:07

Are you donating some to research too? Other wise i think storage for personal use is quite expensive.

MacMomo · 26/08/2010 09:22

I would certainly consider it, not sure about DH. Where overseas are you?

MacMomo · 26/08/2010 10:06

are you looking at blood only or tissue as well? the website doesn't mention discounts for donating cells? seems the cost is about £995 for the blood and additional £400 for tissue - is that right? very interested in your perspective on the relative benefits of tissue and blood. thanks

Umnitsa · 26/08/2010 11:58

My understanding is that SmartCells only does private banking. If you want to donate some of it to a public bank, go with Virgin (but based on their website, the price is the same at £1500 for stem cells only).

We decided we wanted all of stem cells just for private storage - there is a minimum volume and min amount of viable CD34 cells that makes cryopreservation worthwhile. Besides, as far as I understand, for a successful transplant (which I hope we will never need, but still) there is also a recommended ratio of stem cells per body weight (at least at this stage, although they are talking about being able to multiply stem cells in the future).

From what I understand, the option of cord tissue preservation has emerged quite recently. Cord contains a different type of stem cells, MSC (mesenchymal stem cells) which are not fully researched yet but apparently have incredible potential as well.

There are four main players in the UK who offer this service (plus a few international franchises). We were choosing between SmartCells and FutureHealth and in the end decided to go for FutureHealth. SmartCells rates are a little higher for the same service, but they offered me a price match with FutureHealth and were very keen to keep me as a client, so you can try to negotiate as well. Frankly, both seem fairly good.

Original poster

kittyonthebeam · 26/08/2010 18:04

Hi again. We're in the United Arab Emirates. Not a doctor so cannot really say much to tissue/blood being used and the differences of usage/need. We will store all that we can. We did it with our first baby and will do it with this one in the hope that someday in the future the kids will benefit from the stored cells to treat diseases.

I am not donating as not an option here. Would definitely donate if I were back home (Germany) as I have read before that doctors say other people's cells are much more effective so prefer not to use patient's own blood. (Not sure on this one as I have no medical degree.)

Umnitsa, thank you for your informative post! I have the option of going with Future Health, too so will definitely take a look at them.

Personally I am keen to store them in Europe as the UAE's laws can change in a heartbeat and who knows what would happen to these cells. I don't trust the infrastructure here at all.

OP posts:

Umnitsa · 26/08/2010 19:21

I was also tempted to go with Cells Limited which is a partner / franchise of CryoSave: apparently it is the biggest bank in Europe, but the main selling point to me was that they split your sample and store cells in two locations (NL and Belgium), so if somehting goes wrong with one facility, you still have half of the cells in another one. Since we are in London, logistically going with a UK-company made more sense, but if you are in the UAE it may be an option as well.

Original poster

kittyonthebeam · 27/08/2010 12:44

Thanks Umnitsa, I will look into this again but they don't seem to operate out of UAE, so maybe I can't do it.

We have stored my first dc blood in Singapore so there's always the option of sibling blood in another country. Agree with splitting cells a good idea if done in an ethically and tranparent way.

OP posts:

MacMomo · 26/10/2010 11:51

just a little bump to see if anyone else is thinking of banking stem cells or blood cord. We still can't make up our minds if it is worth the £1000 cost.

sh77 · 26/10/2010 12:14

Yes, thinking very seriously about it. £1500 is a lot, but spread over the life of your child (and relative to the cost of prams these days!), it isn't much.

My only concern is that the company I spoke to (whose name I forgot) said that they only bank cells for 30 years. So, one would have to make other arrangements after that.

boognish · 26/10/2010 12:55

Another company that stores cord blood and stem cells in two different locations is cells4life. I'm looking into the options myself. 30 years is not bad; the other 2 companies I looked into only banked for 25 years. After that I guess the danger is that they might feel they can ask what they like to keep storing them, and I also guess transporting them to a more competitively-priced storage facility would have its risks re deterioration.

trixie123 · 26/10/2010 13:47

I would love to do this but the cost is prohibitive. With DS1 I asked about just having it collected for donation so at least it can benefit someone but they don't do it at my hospital . They do in a few others if its all for donation and I think it is a real shame its not a wider scheme.

MacMomo · 26/10/2010 15:35

I don't think we can afford it ourselves, but grandparents might be willing.

Will have a look at cells4 life.

sh77 · 26/10/2010 15:57

The company I spoke to at the Baby Show (can't remember the name at the mo) said that they will take an individual's financial circumstances into account. I will have a look at the leaflet tonight and post the name later on.

Duritzfan · 26/10/2010 20:09

I have just done this - well arranged it anyway with cells4life

I am due at the end of next week - we have gone for a plan that will cost us 1000 - spread over 12 months plus a 200 deposit ..

I wanted to do it as a type of insurance if you like, in case one day it may help one or other of my children ..

sh77 · 27/10/2010 09:37

Durit - what is included in the £1000? Good that you can spread the cost.

For those who read my earlier post, the company I spoke to is Precious Cells.

MacMomo · 27/10/2010 16:52

Yes, spreading the cost might make a difference to us.

Duritzfan · 28/10/2010 19:16

Hi, sorry just got back on MN ...

the £1000 covers collection and preparation and first years storage .. the £200 is a deposit ..and then - sorry - I forgot you pay for the storage at £50 per year for the next 25 years .. they think that soon they will be able to store longer than 25 yrs so hopefully we will be bale to store indefinitely..

But yep it means I have only had to find £200 right now, and then its something like 90 a month for the next year and then purely the £50 pa after that ... We had saved the cash to pay for it but at a time when baby is due and christmas round the corner think its better to do it by instalments..

Obviously I can't tell you how Cells4Life are, as they haven't done my collection yet..I will say though that they have a lot of great recommendations ..they store the samples on two different sites, as they say the odds of there being a huge power failure or a fire or something in the next 25 years are not that small and this is precious material so that was important to me..

Also they have been fab at contacting me and getting the collection kit here ..and answering all my petty questions !!

Am very happy to answer anything else if I can ...and will try and pop back on here, post baby next weekend and let you know how the collection went...

D x

sh77 · 28/10/2010 19:20

Duritz - thank you so much for sharing your experience. Invaluable.

Hope your preg goes well!

DrMouse · 28/10/2010 22:28

Hello, I work in a laboratory where we tissue type children for stem cell transplantation and I would suggest to you that these private banks are a waste of money.
If your child is unfortunate enough to require a stem cell transplant then nearly always physicians would prefer someone elses cells ( called allogenic transplant). This is because the Childs own stem cells are likely to have the predisposition which caused the original condition. Allogenic cells can actually fight cancer cells ( called the Graft Versus Leukaemia Effect).
There are a number of public cord blood banks and network of adult stem cell volunteer donors that we regularly use for our patients.
Hope this helps

sh77 · 29/10/2010 11:05

Thanks Dr Mouse. Interesting insight. What would the baby's own stem cells be useful for then? Isn't it effective for leukemia?

Duritzfan · 29/10/2010 12:41

We are storing ours for possible treatment of type 1 diabetes and for other auto immune disease... my brother had leukaemia and none of our own family were a match ... but I also know someone else who died waiting for stem cells as there was a shortage in the national bank at the time... I don't want that for my child..

At the end of the day I know it may be "a waste" of money ..but to me Id rather risk a thousand pounds now than be in a position one day when I fervently wished that I had done this ..at that stage a thousand pounds will seem like chicken feed...

Having been in the situation when you are waiting for a donor, if that were ever to happen again I would at least have the comfort of knowing that I had done everything I could for my family..

iyswim....

MacMomo · 31/10/2010 14:52

I can't help thinking that medical science will come up with a thousand ways in which your own stem cells will be useful, though I do understand that allogenic transplant is preferred for current treatments. And if you have banked some you can use them for other family, too. I can't imagine the trauma of waiting during a national shortage.

Good luck duritz, hope it all goes well for you

lilly13 · 11/11/2010 13:18

Hi ladies, I just started researching this topic and came across this post. Has anyone actually used any of the companies mentioned above already? What were your impressions? How was the sample physically collected? Many thanks for your replies in advance.

MacMomo · 11/11/2010 21:05

have pretty much decided to go with cells4life as they store the whole blood rather than separating the stem cells out first. will let you know how they go - if I forget, then remind me sometime around 15 January!

Flip

1 2