Ever since evidence of the presence of stem cells in the blood of the umbilical cord and its amazing regenerative potential has been communicated to the public, an increasing number of these cells are being frozen for future use. You are now looking into your options to determine whether and how you can safeguard this potential for your future.

Until very recently, the umbilical cord was simple discarded after birth, or in the best of all worlds, buried in the garden as a token of good fortune. In other cultures, the umbilical cord is hung around the child's neck or even eaten, with the intention to have a positive impact on the child's fate or to heal certain illnesses.

These days, scientists and physicians agree: isolating and freezing stem cells harvested from the umbilical cord blood is definitely the more expedient approach! Even today, many diseases can be healed with the assistance of adult stem cells from the umbilical cord blood. Do not let this potential go to waste!

In this context, you have two options:

• Make an anonymous donation of stem cells to public cell banks, where the stem cells will be made available to the public or utilized for research purposes.
  
  

• The private storage of stem cells, so that your child or close relatives have access to them in the future when they are needed to treat an illness.

On the following pages you will learn why stem cells from the umbilical cord blood are so special, how these cells are generated and which diseases are already being treated with umbilical cord blood stem cells today and which additional application options are currently being researched.