Mother’s Day: Give a gift for life
Listen to this articleDear Editor,
This Mother’s Day, I’d like to thank all the expectant mothers who plan to donate their baby’s umbilical cord blood to a public cord blood bank, such as the Cord for Life® program at Lifeforce Cryobanks.
Your compassion means that someone with a life-threatening disease may get a second chance at life. Donated cord blood that meets the requirements can be listed on the Be The Match Registry® and made available to anyone who needs a blood stem cell transplant.
Cord blood, usually disposed of after birth, is rich in blood-forming cells and can be used to help treat more than 70 different diseases, including leukemia, sickle cell anemia and other blood cancers. Cord blood donations are especially needed from African American and Asian communities, as patients within these communities have difficulty finding donor matches.
There is no cost to donate to a public cord blood bank and donation is safe for moms and babies. Cord blood is collected right after birth and does not change the labor or delivery. You can donate locally at Sharp Medical Center (San Diego) or Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles through a collaboration with Save the Cord Foundation.
There is no greater gift than the gift of life. Since its inception, Lifeforce Cryobanks has banked more than 5,000 cord blood units from generous moms around the country and shipped more than 100 units for transplants, but more donations are needed to help save more lives. Visit BeTheMatch.org/cord to learn more.
Happy Mother’s Day!
Donald Hudspeth
Lifeforce Cryobanks
270 Northlake Boulevard, Suite 1012
32701 Altamonte Springs, Florida
Donald Hudspeth has more than 17 years of clinical laboratory experience as a certified Medical Technologist (ASCP), including ten years with the University of North Carolina Hospitals. Hudspeth is licensed by the State of Florida as a Clinical Laboratory Supervisor in Immunohematology, Hematology, Serology, Clinical Chemistry, Molecular Pathology and Microbiology as well as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist, is a registered Technologist with the American Society of Clinical Pathologists and a member of the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT). He has also enjoyed teaching Immunology to Clinical Laboratory Science and medical school students at UNC while working in the UNCH clinical labs.
At Lifeforce Cryobanks, Hudspeth serves as Chief Operating Officer, overseeing all operations and the daily laboratory operations to ensure that the highest quality in all aspects of donor selection and cord blood collection, processing, and storage is maintained. He also works with Quality Assurance to ensure full compliance by Lifeforce Cryobanks to all applicable regulations. Hudspeth has sat on numerous cord blood focused committees and advisory groups. Additionally, Hudspeth served as the Clinical Investigator for Lifeforce Cryobanks as they evaluated and approved a new processing methodology to isolate stem cells from cord blood while depleting the unwanted red cells. Hudspeth works with groups, individuals, or government agencies to bring cord blood banking to countries around the world. He is responsible for training medical professionals worldwide in cord blood processing at our Florida location. In addition, he travels overseas to assist in the initial setup and implementation of the new facilities to ensure their compliance and quality. Hudspeth has assisted in opening new cord blood facilities in Europe and in SE Asia.