'I would love to see her get out there and run someday,' Cathy Pell says of Abby, who has been treated with cord-blood stem cells. DANA ROMANOFF/THE FREE LANCE-STAR

The stem cells in umbilical-cord blood provide hope for treating serious medical conditions

Date published: 9/10/2006

By AMANDA CRISSUP and JANET MARSHALL

When Cathy Pell was pregnant with her fifth child, she and her husband, Billy, decided to spend $1,700 preserving their baby's umbilical-cord blood.

The Pells aren't rich--Cathy is a stay-at-home mom, and Billy works in his parents' seafood restaurant.

But the Manassas couple wanted to know that if any of their children ever got sick, the blood--loaded with stem cells--would be available.

Cord blood can be an extraordinary tool for treating serious medical conditions. But it can also be an expensive and unusable form of health insurance.

For the Pells, the blood has become a source of hope.

Their baby, Abby, was born with severe brain damage because she went without oxygen for a time in the womb.

The stem cells have given the Pells a promising, if unproven, tool for restoring her neurological functioning. Abby has received two infusions of her own cord blood since her birth two years ago, with tantalizing but uncertain results.

"If it doesn't work, we've lost money. So what?" Cathy Pell said. "But if it can [improve] her life, then it's worth every cent."

Preserving cord blood for a family, though still not the norm, is an increasingly common event in American delivery rooms. Some notable physicians promote the idea. And it's gained popularity in part because newborn stem cells offer medical promise without the ethical baggage of embryonic stem cells.

The stem cells have the potential to treat a variety of conditions, from sickle cell anemia to brain injuries, and can boost immune systems during cancer treatment.

But a lot is unknown about just how much the cells can help. And finding a doctor with experience using the so-called "liquid gold" isn't always easy.

As the Pells have learned, the path from preserving cord blood to using it as treatment is lined with obstacles as well as hope.

Dr. Bob Sears, son of the venerable Dr. William Sears (author of "The Baby Book" and other best-selling parenting books), initially thought cord-blood banking was a gimmick.

But his wife, who had survived cancer as a teenager, read about it while pregnant with their third child. She was convinced they should bank their child's blood. After Sears did some research, he was convinced as well.

Date published: 9/10/2006