When your baby is born, the cutting of his or her umbilical cord signifies the beginning of a new life. Typically, your umbilical cord and placenta are discarded as medical waste. Research has shown that the blood that remains in the umbilical cord and placenta, contains valuable hematopoietic stem cells.
Unlike bone marrow or adult donor transplants, cord blood transplants do not require an exact blood match. In other words, cord blood provides a source of stem cells for those patients who struggle to find a match.
