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Here in the UK, we just don’t think about harvesting stem cells at birth. In my experience, most parents-to-be don’t even know it’s possible. And yet, the benefits of this simple process could potentially be life changing.
As Founder of Dr Morton’s – the medical helpline, I am proud to announce our partnership with Smart Cells International and tell you the incredible story of a patient of mine whose life they helped to save.
Smart Cells International was the first private stem cell banks to have come out of the UK, and is now one of the biggest. For the past 15 years, they have been storing stem cells collected from umbilical cord blood and the cord itself.
The company was founded in 2000 by Shamshad Ahmed, after his role as Managing Director of a clinical trials company introduced him to the amazing potential of stem cells for the treatment of blood related disease. As a father of three himself, Shamshad is passionate about raising awareness among parents of the range of illnesses that stem cell therapy could treat.
So far they have stored over 40,000 cord blood samples from people in over 70 countries around the world. Smart Cells have their own processing and storage facility in the UK, and the company operates across Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia and The Far East. They even have back up laboratories in Hong Kong, South Africa and Spain.
No, the process doesn’t involve sticking needles in your baby’s body or your own. The umbilical cord becomes redundant after birth, and is simply thrown away in the majority of cases, so taking cells from it harms no one. There really couldn’t be a quicker or more convenient way to harvest stem cells.
Stem cells are immature cells which are incredibly special because they have the potential to transform into other types of cells. This means they can replace tissues in various body organs which have been injured by disease or trauma, and can also multiply and replace themselves.
The first successful stem cell transplant was performed in 1988 when a little boy with Fanconi’s Anaemia (a serious blood disorder) received stem cells collected from the cord blood of his newborn sister. Now, there are over 80 conditions where stem cell therapy now has a proven role and advances are being made in this field all the time. You might have heard about research recently published in the Lancet, which looks into using stem cells to treat multiple sclerosis.
I pride my business on its professionalism, security, integrity and ethical practice, and in my long association with Smart Cells International, I have witnessed these same attributes in them.
However, I also have a personal story to tell.
Four years ago, one of my patients developed a type of cancer called acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) while expecting her first baby at only 30 weeks’ gestation. It took a fortnight or so to diagnose, because the clinical picture was confusing, and at first we thought the illness must be a pregnancy complication, but a bone marrow sample confirmed the worst. AML was diagnosed, and there before us was a very ill woman, desperately needing chemotherapy, and still only 32 weeks’ pregnant. We made plans to urgently deliver her baby on a Saturday morning, and because the disease was making her break down her platelets (fragments in the blood essential for blood clotting), extra special blood arrangements were made. I can’t imagine how she and her family must have felt, contemplating this baby’s life without a mother.
Then all of a sudden, I had a thought:
I rang Smart Cells International and explained my patient’s desperate situation. Without hesitation their CEO and Founder, Shamshad Ahmed, arranged for a collection pack to be couriered to Guildford, and it arrived in the operating theatre just as I started the Caesarean section. This was all completely free of charge and exemplifies the generous, caring company that Smart Cells International is.
I am overjoyed to say that both mother and baby did very well.
Collecting your baby’s stem cells at the time of birth is a once in a lifetime opportunity to capture a valuable resource that could be used in the treatment of serious illness or disease. They can be stored for years and years, so they could be providing you with a safeguard for your child and your family’s future. If you would like to find out more, take a look at the Smart Cells International website.