To those that banked the cord blood

Do you mind sharing which company you went with and was there any reason why you picked that particular company? We are trying to decide which company to go with. TIA.

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

We used ViaCord because my OB recommended them.

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

We used CBR. I chose them because after talking to them I felt very comfortable with something so precious. I also knew several people that have used them and seemed happy with the decision. It came down to them and viacord and the rep I spoke to from viacord couldn't answer all my questions.

Message edited 4/23/2008 9:52:49 PM.

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

we chose CBR as well. we looked at the statistics, and they are the biggest one out there. they have banked more than viacord, which seems to be the next biggest one.

my OB had done collection for them as well, and recommended them or viacord.

she did mention there were a couple of start up banking companies on LI, most have since gone under. (So the larger the company and more banking they have done the better chance for them to still be around years from now)

hth

p.s. just curious as to reasons why everyone chose to bank their child's cord blood?

for me, my older son was born with a rare disease where his pancreas didn't work properly and he was always severely hypoglycemic. he had surgery to remove 95% of his pancreas when he was a month old. we figured if he does become diabetic (and the doctor's just don't know if he will or won't) maybe by that time they will have found a way to use Stem cells from my daughter to recreate his islet cells so he isn't diabetic. (they are doing trials with this stuff now)

Message edited 4/23/2008 10:27:59 PM.

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

We used viacord. We were told at lamaze that Viacord uses plastic bags to ship the blood so there is less of a chance that vials break and blood is lost. Next year all cord blood banks will be required to use plastic so this won't be an issue anymore.

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

i researched and was going to choose CBR but after researching long and hard I chose VIACORD and am happy I did

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

We used CBR. We compared them with Viacord, and I really liked their literature better. It explained things better to me (at the time - they may have changed.) And we had a friend who used them & were happy. So they got a referral bonus from us. I really liked the rep I spoke to also. Not sure if Viacord or any other company does this too, but they sent DD a book on her birthday. It was really cute. It's all about belly buttons by Karen Katz (a lift the flap book, which DD loves.) I thought that was nice & I wasn't expecting it.

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

We used Viacord too. My sister used them with both her kids and although I researched CBR, I still went with Viacord.

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

Viacord b/c they do the research there too - not just a bank.

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

We will be going with Viacord this time around.

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

I used Viacord with both kids. They were the only company I felt most comfortable with at the time when we enrolled (2004).

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

Viacord with both. My OB recommended them and they seem to be a solid company (i.e., will be around for a while if you need them down the road)

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

We used viacord as well. It was between them and CBR. My dr recommened Viacord.

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

CBR

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

We used Viacord. We were looking for stability. I think either Viacord or CBR are safe bets - I don't think there is a really meaningful difference between them.

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

CBR - recommended to us by several friends

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

We used Maze, they are here in NY and are about half of what the other bigger names charge.

They don't go crazy advertising and marketing which is why they can charge less.

I did a bunch of homework and feel very comfortable with them. Also, my OB recommended them too.

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

Cryo-Cell

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

CBR- felt that the sales rep was very knowledgable and liked their storage policies

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

Thank you everyone for the feedback. It seems pretty spilt between CBR and Viacord with Viacord maybe getting a couple of more votes. Of course those are the 2 that we have narrowed it down to. I think we're going to go with CBR because after talking to the rep I just feel very comfortable with them and she was able to answer every question that I had. My OB recommends both of them. I just feel that either one will provide exceptional service.

To answer the poster who was curious as to why people went with cord blood banking, our reasoning is basically that yes it is a lot of money but if anything ever happened to either child and banking cord blood could have saved them we just would not have been able to live with ourselves. Hopefully we never have to use it. And maybe 30 years from now we'll say it was a waste of money. But personally I think this is the future of medicine and it's just going to get more common and popular.

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

viacord. b/c friend used them.

Re: To those that banked the cord blood

Message edited 4/24/2008 9:34:46 PM.