A number of public cord blood donation banks are now functional all over the country and are doing some very good work in helping many people who need transplants. Publicly funded umbilical cord blood banks are providing a great reservoir of stem cells that is already helping a number of people to recover from life threatening diseases.

As the number of cord blood donors in the public domain increase, the chances of a patient finding a match in the database are increasing by the day. Many public cord blood registry have made their databases open to potential users by publishing them on web sites. As a result, you can search on line if you need a match.
The numbers of public cord blood donation banks are on the increase all over the world. You can locate them (in alphabetical order) in the states of Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. More are being added every day.
How does public cord blood banking differ from private banks? For starters, in a private cord blood bank, you are more confident of getting a match if the cord blood belongs to your own family. Besides, it is there when you need it. There are other conveniences also associated with private cord blood banks that you may not find in public banks – the collection process is far simpler. Once you enroll, the private cord blood bank will do the rest. You can also donate or if you will, sell the stem cells you have stored. Many people do this once the health of their children is established beyond a doubt. Obviously, you can’t do that with public cord blood banks where once you have donated the sample you cease to have any control over it.
Regardless of the type of bank you use, one thing is for sure – cord blood banking is one of the best ways of ensuring a supply of umbilical cord blood stem cells. It has already helped large numbers of very sick patients and will no doubt continue to help more people as the techniques and procedures evolve. Already, it is possible to remove diseased or damaged cells from the collected cord blood. In this way, a child who was born with a disease can still benefit from his own transplant.
This exciting new frontier of medical science in the name of cord blood donation, is expanding daily bringing hope to countless people who had been pronounced incurable only a few years ago.