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Marana boy stores cord blood to treat cerebral palsy

Posted: Feb 28, 2013 6:25 AM
Updated: Feb 28, 2013 6:26 AM


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TUCSON- Logan is a happy, energetic two-year-old who loves playing games on the iPad. "He likes to make you laugh," says Logan's mother, Jessica Schaefer.

But she says Logan faces a lot of serious medical issues. Besides suffering from a form of autism that prevents him from speaking, Logan was also born with cerebral palsy. "He has a lot of feeding issues with the cerebral palsy and breathing issues," Schaefer says.

Her difficult pregnancy qualified Logan for the "Newborn Possibilities Program". It collected cord stem cell samples from more than 1,000 Tucson newborns, then those samples were stored for free at the Cord Blood Registry. "There are many diseases that are treatable with cord blood stem cells," says Kristen Swingle, VP of Laboratory Operations at the Cord Blood Registry. "There are clinical trials for juvenile diabetes, cerebral palsy, autism."

Logan is now participating in a clinical trial in which his cord blood will hopefully help him improve on his motor skills. "I'm hoping he'll be able to lead a life where he can do things on his own and he's not going to need my constant care," Schaefer says.

She says if they hadn't stored Logan's cord blood, their only other options would be intense physical therapy, which he already does.

To learn more about the Newborn Possibilities Program head to: www.newbornpossibilities.com/program.asp

To learn more about the Cord Blood Registry head to: www.cordblood.com/

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