Cord Blood Banking - Havertown,PA

A., My husband and I did this with our first. We are currently expecting #2. We used a company called CorCell. They are located on Phila. They are affiliated with Blue Cross/Shield, but I think anyone can use them. The rep answered all my questions and was very respectful of our decision. the fees aren't all that much. It was a little over $1000.00 for collection, storage and shipment the first year and then $125 (or around that) for every year after. We feel we made the right decision for our family and like you said hope to never have to use it, but its there if we need it. And once you store it, the cord blood can be used for other children. Your children's DNA is so closely linked. Hope this helps in your decision. Good luck!

Hi A.! We made the decision pretty early in my first pregnancy to bank the baby's cord blood. My husband has a pretty serious heart condition for which he was listed for a trasplant for a while. Thankfully he has almost completely recovered but the idea that one day stem cells could help him made the idea of banking easy. We also banked our daughters blood in August. We used CorCell also, mostly because it is a local company and was one of the first banks. We also received a discount through our insurance and for the second child an additional discount. They have payment plans for the initial costs, which runs about $1800-$2000. The yearly fees after that are less than $100 per child. I hope this information helps. Good luck!

Hello A.,
If you live in the North Wilmington area. I would suggest you look into the Brady Kohn Foundation. It is a non profit that stores chord blood for free. It works very much like the blood bank. You do not control your storage, but rather gets put into a public listing to be used by any family. The foundation was founded by a friend who sadly lost her first child - even tho she stored his chord blood privately. Their web address is www.thebradykohnfoundation.org.
Good Luck.
ER

HI A.,
I think it's great that you are planning to bank the cordblood. If you can afford it, it is well worth it. We did it with our son and used CBR. If you need one, I have a coupon that gets you some money off. we decided to use them b/c they had a great location (away from natural disaster areas) and a good reputation. A friend who is a OBGYN actually recommended them to us. We have several other friends who have also used them. They were incredibly helpful over the phone. I spoke with them a few times before the baby came. They also followed up with us afterwards. If you have any specific questions feel free to contact me or the company itself. It was a very easy process. Probably one of the easiest things we did in preparation for the baby's arrival.

I banked my son's cord blood with CorCell. They have been around a long time, have good storage facilities, and I got a discount through my insurance. Be sure you know the difference between public cord blood banking and private cord blood banking. Public banking is free or low fee but it will be given to anyone who needs it and is a match - 10 years from not it may not be there for you. Private banking is more expensive but it's kept just for you.

The inital start up cost was the big ticket item but we broke it into 3 or 4 payemnts and it included everything: 1 year storage, supplies, medical courier, and testing. Storage is then a yearly fee of less than $100 - check with your insurance provider for discounts! They will keep it for 18 years, then your baby is old enough to decide for themselves what to do with it.

I am debating on banking my second son's blood - or I may put it in a public bank because someone may need it.

J.

A.,

We banked with CorCell. It was almost 10 years ago, with my 2nd child, and this all was new then. We didn't have the option with our first, that's how new all this was. We paid a lot up front, although there was a Blue Cross/Personal Choice discount at the time. I look at it as insurance. I hope we never have to use it, but we store it, and pay for that, just in case. There were only 3 places from which to choose back then. There probably is more now. My dr. liked CorCell because they are nearby, so less chance of transportation issues. My practice had worked with CorCell before.

Good luck, and congrats on #3!