ORLANDO, Fla. – Tracy Polakoff and her husband needed fertility treatments for their first two children. Now unexpectedly, she's expecting a third baby, a surprise she's thrilled about.
"We tried so hard. We invested our entire lives into having children, having healthy children, we want to protect the investment," Polakoff said.
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That's why she's looking forward to saving her third child's cord blood just as she did with her first. It's a precaution and investment her family is willing to make just in case the stem cells in the blood could save their lives in the future.
From leukemia to sickle cell anemia, stem cells in cord blood can be used to treat more than 75 diseases.
"It served as a type of insurance policy for our children in the future if they have any medical conditions we might be able to help them with," Polakoff said.
Lifeforce Cryobanks in Altamonte Springs stores umbilical cord blood samples from across the country that have been privately stored or donated.
Donald Hudspeth, COO at Lifeforce, says new Florida legislation will help build better awareness and understanding about how cord blood donation works and increase the number of samples being stored.
"It's going to help get our message out. You can donate here in Central Florida and it will be listed on the National Marrow Donor Program's (NMDP) Be The Match Registry," Hudspeth said.
Researches say there will be even more uses for cord blood in the next five to 10 years for treating everything from heart attacks to growing brand new organs for transplants.