Did Cord Blood Banking save this baby from brain damage?

Little Bailey Coates suffered a stroke in utero and Doctors predicted that 25% of her brain had been affected and that she may never walk or talk without intensive therapy.

Under direction of Dr Joanne Kurtzberg, the director of the paediatric blood and marrow transplant program at Duke University, Bailey has undergone three transfusions from her own cord blood and seems to be responding well to the treatments and now has use of both sides of her body.

Although more research needs to be done before Baileys progress can be directly attributed to her cord blood infusions, her progress has been encouraging. Bailey’s family hope that her story will help to spread the word about the potential benefits associated with banking a child’s cord blood.

Adapted from the article published by Amanda Woerner on 13th January 2014 on Foxnews.com

Click here to read more about the story.

Or click here to follow Bailey’s progress on Facebook.

Grandfather with leukaemia was saved by two babies’ umbilical cords

David Pyne, a 60 year-old grandfather, who was given 18 months to live after being diagnosed with leukaemia, has been cured after undergoing a remarkable cord blood stem cell transplant.

His team of doctors at The Christie Hospital in Manchester found two separate umbilical cord donors that were a good match- one from a baby born in America and one born in France. The donated stem cell units were flown over to The Christie Hospital where David underwent the stem cell transplant.

Adapted from Article published by Anna Hodgekiss on 12th February 2014 on dailymail.co.uk.

Click here to read more.

So what diseases are stem cells currently being used to treat?

The Parents Guide to Cord Blood Foundation has created a summary of diseases that stem cells are currently being used to treat as well as clinical trials that are underway:

• Standard therapies - diseases for which transplants of blood-forming stem cells are a standard treatment. For some diseases they are only therapy, and in other diseases they are only employed when front-line therapies have failed or the disease is very aggressive.
   
• Therapies in Clinical Trials - a ‘clinical trial’ is a study in human patients for an emerging therapy that has not yet been adopted as standard therapy. ClinicalTrials.Gov provides a searchable database of all trials in the United States, and holds many International trials as well.
  
  Phase 1: Safety study to see if the procedure or drug is well-tolerated.
  Phase 2: Larger study to measure effectiveness of the new treatment against a control group.
  Phase 3: Even larger study to compare the effect of various parameters such as dose and administration, and to monitor side effects prior to market release.
  Phase 4: Post-marketing studies to learn even more about risks, benefits, and optimal use.
   
• Experimental therapies - These are diagnoses for which stem cell treatments are being studied either in the laboratory with cell cultures or in animals that mimic the human disease. The experimental therapies are not yet in human clinical trials.
   
• Clinical trials with stem cells from Cord Tissue

Click here to view this page on the Parents Guide to Cord Blood Foundation website.

Netcells turned 9 this year

Netcells Services

Mini Sperm Analysis

Find out how healthy your sperm are.

Our Mini Sperm Test will quickly establish your sperm count and how your sperm are moving (motility). This is important as a low sperm count and poor motility is a significant cause of infertility.

No blood tests required. Results within a day.

For more information contact Debbie Mills at Netcells: debbie.mills@netcells.co.za.

New stem cell skin product to be distributed in South Africa soon.

Scientists in Singapore have spent over 10 years researching cord lining stem cells to renew your skin. From this they have developed CALECIM, a unique formulation of these stem cells that visibly restores skin fullness, firmness and elasticity, reduces pigmentation and decreases fine lines. See the information leaflet for more information.

For further information on Calecim please email : info@calecim.co.za.

Click on a service for more information.

Discovery Health

Discovery Health has partnered exclusively with Netcells Biosciences to offer its members up to a 25% discount off the price of stem cell storage with Netcells.

If you are planning on having siblings for your little one(s) in the near future and are a Discovery Health Member then visit the Netcells website or the Discovery Health website for more information.

The Sunflower Fund

Netcells is extremely pleased to announce that there were 12 Gynaes in 2013 that generously donated their procedural fees to The Sunflower Fund. Together they raised R 51 403. This money will pay for new potential donors to go onto the South African Bone Marrow Registry which will give direct hope to children and young adults diagnosed with leukaemia who are in need of a life-saving bone marrow stem cell transplant.

The Sunflower Fund thank all the Gynaes that donated and were prepared to “Share a Little, to Save a Life”.

Netcells Biosciences’ chosen charity for 2014 is the Uvemvane Project in association with CHOC

The Uvemvane Project is based at CHOC (Childhood Cancer Foundation South Africa). The name ‘Uvemvane’ is derived from the Zulu word for the butterfly. Through the project, children with various types of cancer engage in the use of creative expressive arts in therapy, in order to help them understand and process some of the emotional difficulties that they have during diagnosis, treatment and recovery. During the psychotherapy sessions, transcultural modalities such as dance, movement, art, music and drama are incorporated to help find non-threatening ways in which to story the children’s experiences of illness. In this way, their psychological strengths and abilities are enhanced and they can creatively explore and re-define the world around them with a sense of confidence, purpose and hope.

Photographs

Thank you to those of you that have sent us adorable photos of your little ones- go onto the Netcells website to view all the photos.