If you are due, please donate your cord blood

[madamceladon]

Dear pregnant ladies

I'm a MN user running a media campaign for my friend Yvette who is dying of a rare aggressive blood cancer aged 41.
She's had a failed trial and her only hope is a match for stem cell therapy through the bone marrow donor registry, OR the cord blood registry.
She's been given 3-6 months to live. We are devastated. She's genuinely one of the best people I've ever met.
We've got media coverage for her; shes interviewed 39 minutes in to this BBC London episode.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0btn6kb

metro.co.uk/2022/03/29/woman-with-cancer-cant-find-stem-cell-donor-because-shes-mixed-race-16359183/

If pregnant, you can opt for midwives to collect cord blood from the placenta during the birth. Info here.
www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/cord-blood-bank/

If not pregnant, you can still sign up to the donor registry. It's very easy: they just send you a kit in the post to swab your cheek cells and post back. It's less hassle than doing a covid test.
Sign up here.
www.dkms.org.uk/get-involved/virtual-drives/yvette

If in London , we are running an in person donor drive in Chinatown on 24 April; please come. Details in link below.
www.swabforyvette.com

If you can't help Yvette, you could still save someone else's life.
The most needed donors are: BAME people; people under 40; young men. You have to be 17 years old to sign up.

If anyone from MNHQ is interested in supporting our campaign please contact me.

If you have experience of donating cord blood, or of donating bone marrow I'd love to hear it.

Some pics of my beautiful friend in hospital attached.

I'm so sorry about your friend. I signed up and gave a swab to the Anthony Nolan trust following a similar campaign a few years ago. It's really easy. I intend to donate my cord blood as well. Bumping for others to see this too.

Thank for the information. I'll have a look at it. Best of luck for the campaign.

It’s a shame. After researching while I was pregnant there isn’t enough hospitals on the list that do cord blood donation. I don’t think there was anywhere in Scotland that accepted if I remember correctly. Possibly 1 hospital. It’s really difficult to donate your cord as I absolutely would have done both pregnancies had the option been available.

@Happy2be

It’s a shame. After researching while I was pregnant there isn’t enough hospitals on the list that do cord blood donation. I don’t think there was anywhere in Scotland that accepted if I remember correctly. Possibly 1 hospital. It’s really difficult to donate your cord as I absolutely would have done both pregnancies had the option been available.

Agreed, when I looked into this it was only London hospitals, nothing near me.

Yes, I looked into this and it wasn’t possible in my area.

Can you do it if you have delayed cord clamping?

I was keen to do this, but they don't offer it at my local trust unfortunately.
I've been registered with Anthony Nolan for years though.

yes it is a shame it is so limited.

However you can still register yourself as a adult through the cheek swabbing for DKMS or Anthony Nolan.

www.dkms.org.uk/get-involved/virtual-drives/yvette

@Duracellbunnywannabe from the NHS page it sounds possible but not guaranteed. 'Please be aware that if you have chosen delayed clamping as part of your birth plan, this may impact on the chances of us being able to make a successful collection, however, in many cases we are still able to collect a viable amount of cord blood.'

I am so sorry to hear about your friend and really hope that this campaign gets some attention! I would love to donate my babies cord blood and looked into it but my trust also doesn't do it I think the NHS Cord Blood Bank is really misleadingly named as it is only Luton and Dunstable Hospital, St George’s Hospital and University College London Hospital that actually does the cord blood banking.

It looks like you can also donate via Anthony Nolan at these hospitals:

Saint Mary's Hospital, Manchester
SMW Saint Mary's, Wythenshawe
King's College Hospital, London
Leicester Royal Infirmary
Leicester General Hospital

I wish more offered it!

Agree it is quite misleading . So tricky

OP thank you for trying to raise awareness of this!! I live in the US and although drs there will do cord banking for helping others if you request it of them and if you obtain all the necessary pieces through the cord banking registry sites, it turns out that they will not touch me as I lived in the UK when I grew up in the 1990s so I am a "mad cow disease" risk. Absolutely infuriating, because it would be really nice to help others!! Keep up the good work with spreading the word that this service can/should be available, and I truly wish the best to your friend going through this tough time.

I just reached out to the be the match agency where I live to see if the restrictions have changed since my last pregnancy because of your post. Please know that your efforts are having a positive impact and you really are helping to raise awareness, thank you!

I really want to do this and looked into it as soon as I got pregnant but nowhere near me does it.