Latest story on ethical stem cells in Texas

Last week, in a story about another baby boy, there was a  a beautiful memorial to  the “Bubble Boy,” David Vetter, too. 

The story in the Houston Chronicle is also a tribute to the doctors and parents who keep immune compromised children alive while waiting for the cure or treatment to take effect. 

My granddaughter’s mother is one of those heroes, helped by doctors and nurses, my son and an extended family of friends. (I can’t help my prejudice that gives the mother most of the credit.) And then, there was a baby boy and his generous mother.

I told Roni’s story to the Texas Legislature back in 2007 and 2006. An anonymous baby boy and his parents saved Roni’s life in 2001. 

In addition to a very low white blood cells count, her bone marrow didn’t make enough red blood cells or platelets, either. She’s healthy and well, today, after one of the first cord blood bone marrow transplants in the world at the age of 15 months. 

Although no matches were found for Sebastian,  the baby in today’s story, Texas has a strong system for the  registration of both bone marrow and umbilical cord blood donors. The Texas Cord Blood and MD Anderson Cord Blood Centers collect, store s and manage the distribution of donated cord blood collected at birth from moms and babies all over the State. 

Families who store their baby’s cord blood privately are very unlikely to ever need it, except when there’s a known problem. The odds are less than 1:200,000. But if they donate to a public bank, the blood is much more likely to save a life and/or be used in life-saving research. 

Bravo to all the parents and caregivers in children’s lives and prayers for Sebastian. There’s a Go-Fund-Me account for Sebastian’s expenses, if you are interested. 

Edit: there’s a wonderful update: Sebastian was able to go home!