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How does the Cells4Life service compare to other cord blood banks?

Cells4Life is the best value for money of any cord blood bank in the world.  We collect every type of cell available in cord blood and cord tissue but we only charge the same as other cord blood banks.  This is a saving of £950.

What are the benefits of storing the extra stem cells and the cord blood factor?

Each type of cell has specific therapeutic properties:

• HSCs (Haematopoietic Stem Cells) are used to rebuild the immune system following chemotherapy or radiation therapy.  Normally, this only affects 1 in 20,000 people.
• MSCs (Mesenchymal Stem Cells) are the building blocks for regenerative medicine and the primary reason why most of our clients store their baby’s cord blood.  MSCs have the ability to become heart tissue, repair tendons, bones and ligaments amongst other therapies.
• VSELs (Very Small Embryonic Like Stem cells) are the most powerful stem cell apart from actual embryonic stem cells.  These are very rare but are found in small quantities in umbilical cord blood.
• Cord Blood Factor is believed to be one of the reasons why whole cord blood is better for transplants following cancer treatments. It is believed to help grow stem cells in bone marrow repopulation and improves the immune response of cells.  

Service at a Glance

This table highlights why Cells4Life stores more UK samples than any other bank.

These are some of the features of stem cell storage that any prospective parent may like to consider:

1. When harvesting your child’s stem cells you have two options in how they are stored:
   1. take only some of the stem cells and discard the other blood factors, or
   2. store the whole blood, this means all of the stem cells and all of the other blood factors are stored 
2. Whole blood contains stem cells, VSELS (recently discovered and thought to be a critical development in possible stem cell therapies) and other critical blood factors. Using whole blood maximises the chances of a successful engraftment should the blood ever be needed. Storing whole blood is more expensive than extracting and storing just the stem cells but Cells4Life does not pass this on to its clients.
3. 25 years is a long time. For this reason we store the sample in two separate locations for added peace of mind in case of fire, flood, damage, etc. Nobody else in the UK offers this.
4. We use a special dedicated courier 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year to ship just your blood back to our laboratory. Other storage companies use a standard next day parcel delivery service that only operates in office hours.
5. Cells viability is critical to a successful engraftment and it declines rapidly with time. This is why we use a dedicated courier, and process 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. No other UK stem cell storage bank does this.
6. Cells4Life offers the most cost effective and most comprehensive service available in the UK today.

Call now to order a FREE Welcome Pack (or order online) or ask any other questions you may have on 01444 873 950.

We highly recommend you continue your own independent research including a look at these links:

Amazing recovery attributed to stem cells
Human Tissue Authority
Parents Guide to storage

* Note - a dedicated courier may not be available in some regions outside the UK