Learn about donating cord blood to Canada’s public cord blood bank at www.blood.ca/cordblood.
Did you know that after a baby is born, the blood left in the umbilical cord and placenta is rich in lifesaving blood stem cells? Yet the majority of cord blood is discarded as medical waste. By donating your baby's cord blood, you can save a life.
Cord blood can treat over 80 diseases and disorders, including leukemia.
Canadian Blood Services' Cord Blood Bank is a free public service that collects and stores donated cord blood stem cells for future use by patients in need of an unrelated stem cell transplant.
Half of all patients waiting for a stem cell transplant in Canada are unable to find a stem cell donor.
A diverse national public cord blood bank means a better chance of finding a match for a patient in need. People who need a stem cell transplant are more likely to find a match in a donor with a similar ancestral or ethnic background. Currently, people who are Black, Indigenous, Asian, Hispanic or mixed-race collectively make up only about a third of registrants on Canadian Blood Services Stem Cell Registry. Having a stem cell registry that is as diverse as Canada can help ensure that people who need a stem cell transplant can find a suitable match.
Fewer than 25% of patients find a matching donor within their own family.
The other 75% must rely on unrelated donors to save their lives.
You could be the donor who saves someone's life. Registering is easy.
Watch this video to learn more about donating cord blood.
Through the partnership between BC Women's Hospital and Health Centre and Canadian Blood Services, this free choice is available to eligible mothers.
The cord blood will be collected by a qualified Canadian Blood Services' professional after the baby and placenta are delivered. No blood is taken from the baby. Cord Blood Bank staff will not be present in the delivery room. The nurse brings the placenta to the collections team outside of the delivery room.
After cord blood collection is completed, the placenta is returned to the hospital. If not donated, the cord blood left in the umbilical cord and placenta is typically thrown away as medical waste.
Canadian Blood Services offers free interpreter and translation services for select languages. Visit blood.ca/cordblood to learn more.
- Become informed. Visit blood.ca/cordblood and talk to your doctor, midwife or nurse.
- Register online. You will receive a confirmation email with a copy of your signed consent form.
- On your day of delivery, remember to inform hospital staff of your wish to donate and add it to your birth plan.
Becoming a parent is a life-changing moment full of promise, joy and a natural share of anxiety. For parents of a sick child, those worries are more intense - especially if that child needs a stem cell transplant to survive. That was what mom Manny Ford and her family had to face when their little Tristan was diagnosed with a rare disease. Finding a cord blood match was the miracle the family had been waiting for. Your baby's first gift could be a gift of life for a patient like Tristan.
Hear Tristan's story.
