Placenta Banking with LifeBankUSA

I donated Blair's cord blood after her birth to LifeBankUSA and blogged about them here, and am happy to come back today to share with you their Placenta Banking service. This company is doing amazing things for people and I am so thrilled to share with you guys and help spread the word of storing your baby's cord blood and placenta or otherwise donating it for a life-saving cause.
I never thought about storing the placenta, as I had honestly just never heard about the option or service available to do it, but I was so inspired to do this for this pregnancy after reading this story about Quentin, a little boy whose life was saved using his sister’s placenta and cord blood. You can read this amazing story here.
Many of you know the importance and advantages of banking your baby's cord blood, but may not know the importance of placenta banking. Placenta blood is the blood that’s left in the placenta after birth. During your pregnancy, the placenta provides your baby with oxygen, water and essential nutrients and protects your baby against infection. After birth, your baby no longer needs the placenta, but the usefulness of the placenta doesn’t end with delivery -- Like the umbilical cord, the placenta blood is a rich source of stem cells which can be collected and stored in case your child or a close family member needs them someday. Just like the stem cells found in cord blood, the stem cells found in the placenta can be used for life-saving transplants to treat diseases such as leukemia, certain metabolic abnormalities and inherited diseases of the immune system or red blood cells. Stem cell transplants work by replacing other cells in the body that have either been destroyed or stopped working properly.
Adding placenta blood banking can make your cord blood collection even more powerful by potentially doubling the number of stem cells that are collected and preserved. Here's a few reasons I found about why having more stem cells matters:
- Research studies have shown that transplanting more stem cells can improve transplant success and survival.
- Preserving more stem cells means they may be used to treat more than one health condition that may affect your child or other close family member in the future.
- Placenta blood increases other types of stem cells that have shown promise in regenerative medicine, an area of groundbreaking clinical research that involves the use of stem cells to repair or regrow damaged tissues and organs.

LifebankUSA is the only company out there that offers this unique opportunity to save more stem cells. Since 2006, LifebankUSA has been the only private cord blood bank to offer parents the option of adding placenta blood banking to cord blood banking. And these stem cells are being put to work and doing amazing things – as of July 2015, LifebankUSA has released 19 placenta blood units for transplant in patients ranging from 3 months old to 45 years of age. LifebankUSA is also the first and only private cord blood bank to provide a unit of stem cells from placenta blood for a successful transplant. And they are nationwide - so they will collect anywhere, at any hospital you're delivering at.
I know when you are pregnant, you have about 1,000 things on your mind every minute, but going through LifeBankUSA for your baby's cord blood and placental banking will definitely help give you greater peace of mind, and the process is really so easy, you will be so happy you did.