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You could save the life of someone with blood cancer right here at the Saint Mary’s Hospitals Manchester and Wythenshawe – by donating your umbilical cord blood.
If you give birth at the Saint Mary’s Oxford Road or St Mary’s at Wythenshawe, you can help save the life of someone with blood cancer by donating your umbilical cord blood to the Anthony Nolan Cord Blood Programme after you give birth.
The stem cells in your baby’s cord blood could be used for a potentially lifesaving stem cell transplant. Usually, the placenta and umbilical cord are thrown away, but by donating these after birth, your baby could become a little lifesaver.
Saint Mary’s Oxford Road and St Mary’s at Wythenshawe hospitals are two of five in the UK where women can donate their umbilical cord.
One of our trained collectors will safely collect the cord and placenta and extract the blood. All this happens after your baby is born and in no way interferes with your birth plan. In fact, most mothers tell us they didn’t even notice it happening!
Why is cord blood so important?
Unlike with adult stem cell donors, the donated cord blood doesn’t even need to be an exact match for a patient! The stem cells in cord blood aren’t mature, so can develop to suit their recipient.
Cord blood can be a great option for people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, who it can be harder to find a match for on the stem cell register.
If we can’t collect enough cord blood for transplant, we can use it for research. Researchers are working tirelessly to understand the different properties of cord blood, which will help us to ensure stem cell transplants are more effective than ever. Your baby can still help to save lives!
Donating your cord blood
If you’d like to register to donate cord blood, have a chat with your midwife or one of the dedicated cord blood collectors at Saint Mary’s Oxford Road or St Mary’s at Wythenshawe
You can find out more about Anthony Nolan’s Cord blood programme and our lifesaving work here.
The Cord collection team is led by Janet Davies who is the site coordinator. Janet leads a team of 11 dedicated cord blood collectors across both sites and has been involved in the Cord Blood Programme for 6 years.
If you have any questions about cord blood donation, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the team, using this address Cord.Collection@anthonynolan.org.