Well we did it!

DS was born 5 years ago and his 20 week scan showed that he had a life limiting heart condition. So we decided to store his cord blood stem cells in case they could be used to create another heart or tissue for him later in life.

We talked it through with our unborn sons cardiologist and cardiac surgeon and our OB. We choose a company in Vic and it cost us around $2000 - $3000 from memory - thats what our baby bonus bought us.

Our surgeon is involved in the stem cell therapy research as well as being a pediatric cardiac surgeon. I remember him saying to us at the time "ah, you believe in the future". That what it represents to us - hope for the future.

For us it has bought us some hope that IF we can use his own tissue to create a heart in the future that would mean that we dont have to wait for someone else to die in order for him to live. Worth it for us.

I am now pg again and this bub is looking healthy. We are now considering what to do with the cord blood and are thinking of donating it to our hospital for research and therapy on other kids. I know there are benefits of leaving the cord to stop pulsing BUT the benefits to other kids is larger than that.