Cord blood donation can save thousands of lives every year if it properly used. It is unfortunate that many people do not know of this and allow the precious life saving liquid to go literally down the drain or into an incinerator. Many diseases thought to be terminal can be cured if only cord blood research progresses actively.
There are two schools of thought about cord blood donation. Some people feel strongly that it should be kept ‘in-house’ as a sort of a medical insurance against disease that may occur in the future. Private cord blood banks have come up to cater to these people. You pay a fair amount of money but then you get an unparalleled insurance. What is more, as research discovers new uses and techniques, your insurance grows in value.

The other school of thought prefers public cord blood donation banks. Any mother can choose to donate blood to a hospital that accepts cord blood donations. These hospitals conduct appropriate tests, processing, and store the blood for use by anyone who needs it and matches the blood type well enough to ensure a safe transplant. Typically, these hospitals put up the details of the cord blood with them on a web site which any physician or patient can look up to see if there is a sample that can help.
A few more issues related to cord blood donation. Some people may not want their blood to be used by any one else. Even they can offer the cord blood to the bank but specify that it is only to be used for research. Cord blood research also uses a great deal of cord blood and so cord blood is welcome even with such a rider.
Public cord blood banks do not pay anything to a mother for the cord blood she donates, but then, neither do they charge anything for the extensive testing they undertake. There have been any numbers of cases where cord blood donors have benefited this way.
Yet people who pay for cord blood preservation, their cord blood in private banks practice another form of donation. Once their child is grown up and tests have determined that the child is healthy, these parents donate or sometimes sell the cord blood to someone who needs it immediately. As a result, the early years of the child are secured and someone else benefits as well.
With the passage of time, the utility of cord blood will increase as further research is conducted. Even if a parent participates in a cord blood donation only for research, the findings may eventually help the child one day. Good deeds have a way of returning to the doer. Who knows one day we may need some help?