Florida Hospital for Children Makes Major Announcement

Published: 
May 20, 2009

Banking on Life: Florida Hospital for Children Makes Major Announcement About Umbilical Cord Blood Banking

Florida Hospital will help delivering mothers "get connected" by offering free cord blood banking

 

ORLANDO, Fla., May 20, 2009 - Today, as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series hosted by Florida Hospital for Children, this month's speaker helped Central Florida mothers "get connected" by talking to the community about the benefits of umbilical cord blood banking and transplantation. Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg is the program director for pediatric blood and bone marrow transplantation at Duke University Medical Center, and discussed how cord blood banking has already helped to save thousands of lives and why it is important to donate. As one of the pioneers in umbilical cord blood research and transplantation, Dr. Kurtzberg explained how cord blood transplantation is being used today and the vision for its benefits tomorrow.

Following the lecture, Florida Hospital for Children made a significant announcement that will no doubt impact the future of cord blood banking and the lives of many families in Central Florida and nationwide. In partnership with CORD:USE, Florida Hospital will be offering expecting mothers throughout the state the option to donate their umbilical cord blood for no charge to the individual. For some families, this may have been something they considered but were prevented from pursuing due to the cost. Now, birth days can be even happier, as families can help the greater good by banking cord blood.

According to CORD:USE, umbilical cord blood helps save lives, as it is used to treat more than 70 diseases including leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell anemia and other blood diseases. In addition, cord blood can help with transplant procedures - approximately 15,000 transplants have already taken place using cord blood. The cord blood donated by Florida Hospital patients will help build the National Cord Blood Inventory (NCBI). For more information on CORD:USE, visit www.corduse.com.

For media inquiries, please contact Florida Hospital Media Relations at 407-303-8217.

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