I was extremely excited as the doctor had said everything was fine and I was a soon-to-be-mother. It was then my mother-in-law entered the room and asked, “What has the doctor said.”
“Everything is pretty fine”, I replied.
“Has the doctor examined all the reports carefully,” she enquired.
Yes, she is a good doctor. I am supposed to deliver the baby in a week.”
Maa, shouldn’t we choose to preserve the baby’s umbilical cord blood?” I asked the mother-in-law doubtfully.
“Cord blood, what is this?” She voiced surprisingly. A sine of surprise ran onto her face.
An unexpected question for her! She might have hardly heard of it before.
Yes, “Cord blood. I answered,
“What is this and can we afford it”, she asked again.
Here’s how I managed to convince her for the cord blood banking by giving a burning example of our neighborhood.
I began,
A baby’s umbilical Cord blood is a rich source of stem cells. It has the potential to repair and renewing the damaged cells in our body.
If you remember the case of the boy in our neighborhood who was diagnosed with “Thalassemia”, he is no more.
Since my mother-in-law was not much educated, I had to explain her about Thalassemia, and then described how the blood cells would have helped the child recover.
I had also done research about this particular disease as I didn’t want my soon-to-be-born baby meet such situation in his/her life.
Going ahead, I explained mother-in-law, Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder. It is a life-threatening disease. When it occurs, the body makes an abnormal form of hemoglobin (a protein molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen). It develops slowly, bone deformities, and the skin turns pale or yellow, etc.
Thalassemia is caused by either a deletion of certain key gene fragments or a genetic mutation. There is no cure available for this disease except the stem cell transplant.
Now, in case of the neighborhood’s son, the doctor had suggested the parents the stem cell transplant. Parents got ready for the transplantation. But, the god has allotted something else to the suffering child. His parents had not opted for the cord blood stem cells bank. And they were unable to find the stem cells that could match the body’s cells of their son. That’s how they could not save the child.
For god's sake if my kid is diagnosed with such inherited disorders in future, what would we do?
This is what caught the attention of my mother-in-law.
Expressing her sympathy to the neighbor’s child and to my little angle that was yet to come, she asked, “How much does cord blood banking cost? Can we afford this?”
“Yes, maa”, I replied.
I told her that I had done a lot of web search and found a cord blood stem cells bank, naming Cryoviva Biotech. I also let her know that Cryoviva Biotech is a good cord blood bank with networks in all the cities in India for the stem cell preservation. They collect the umbilical cord blood, process, extract stem cells, and store them at the cost that we can afford.
The mother-in-law reply was this:
“Look, I don’t have much idea about it. But, as you are saying, it’s important. Discuss with your husband and go for it” I want my son-in-law to have a healthy and bright future.
That’s how I managed to convince my mother-in-law for Cryoviva cord blood banking.
I am urging all those newly wedding couples to opt for preserving their baby’s cord blood stem cells as it is important not for the child only, but his/her singling as well.
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