Wondering people's thoughts or experiences with the latest research out there... my 3-year old will have been diagnosed for a year in May, and we have a new baby coming in June. I had never really considered paying for this new baby's cord blood to be stored but some of the pamphlets talk about how a sibling's stem cells were able to be used to "cure" some cases of Type 1 Diabetes... but I haven't found much more that seems legitimate. As a nurse, the idea of any transplanting etc. brings the huge fear and potentially bigger monster than T1D of anti-rejection drugs and different scenarios of rejection... anyway, would love some thoughts.
My family just went through this 9 months ago. My son is T1D and there was the concern on if storing cord blood from our daughter would be beneficial. From my wife's doctor and my son's endo, they were all indifferent. There aren't any working therapies with cord blood for diabetes. From a Type1Now conference I just went to, there doesn't seem to be a lot of research into transplant or transfusion therapies on the radar. So it's a 50/50 proposition. It's your call. As my wife's doctor put it: Would the $3000-5000 be better spent storing cold blood based on current information or would it be better in a college fund? We opted for the college fund.
The information on cord blood or stem cell therapy treating diabetes is all theory at this point. Even studies using mice haven't actually produced islet cells that make insulin.
If you have the money, storing the cord blood can't hurt. But I would spend the money on something more practical, like Tim's great recommendation to put it in a college fund.
Thank you all so much-- this is exactly why I enjoy this site so much, I appreciate the input! Sounds like we'll go the college fund route :-) Maybe my little scientist who takes apart everything and puts it back together will come up with her own cure!