Umbilical cord-blood donations: 'The ultimate recycling program'

HARLINGEN - Ana Aguilar gave birth to her son Daniel, born this week at Valley Baptist Medical Center, and gave life and hope to cancer patients, too.

Aguilar donated her son's umbilical cord blood to the Texas Cord Blood Bank in San Antonio.

"I can help save a life," Aguilar said. "I would like that if it was my child who needed the blood."

Texas Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones personally thanked Aguilar for her donation Wednesday as she visited the hospital to speak about the importance of cord blood donations.

Gov. Rick Perry declared December Cord Blood Awareness Month.

Jones said she worked very hard while in the Texas House of Representatives in 2001 to pass legislation to establish a cord blood bank in Texas.

"This is an issue that is very near and dear to my heart," Jones said. "I've had family and friends experience medical tragedies in their lives with life-threatening cancers. Some did not survive. In honor of those, I've worked very hard."

Jones said cord blood to save lives is new medical technology and that the TCBB uses state-of-the-art equipment and quality control.

"It is the ultimate recycling project - one that saves lives."

There are seven cord blood banks in the nation and the TCBB is the only one in the Southwest region, Jones said.

Brownsville native Leslie Lucio, 22, also thanked Aguilar for her decision to donate her baby's cord blood.
Lucio has been cancer-free for a year following a cord blood transplant after battling Hodgkin's disease lymphoma for two and a half years.

Without the cord blood donation, Lucio might not be here today. Doctors had given her less than a year to live.
Mary Beth Fisk, technical director of the TCBB, said the process of donating cord blood is free, simple and painless to the newborn child and mother.

Rich blood-making cells, cord blood is extracted with a needle from the placenta after the umbilical cord is cut from the baby, Fisk said.

The blood is sent to the TCBB in San Antonio where the blood is kept frozen, Fisk said. The cord blood can be good for use for up to 20 years, she added.

Cord blood can be used to treat leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell anemia, immune system disorders and blood-making system disorders, according to a TCBB fact sheet.

Possible future uses include cardiac repair, neurological repair and diabetes, the sheet states.

"I have a second chance," Lucio said. "I'm young and to think I wasn't going to be able to be with my family and friends - thank you for your donations. I'm grateful."

Lucio said she will be attending the University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College in January.

"I knew someday I would be cancer-free," Lucio said. "Every day to me is awesome."
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Daisy Martinez is a reporter for the Valley Morning Star.