Dunkin' Donors

Thursday, September 18, 2008 at 8:13pm

I was watching The One Show on BBC1 the other night, and, realising the MIGHTY Eastenders wasn't to follow (Wednesday sucks), I lost interest and started reading (it's my second reading of a book called Dangerous Parking, by a chap called Stuart Browne - it's sad, funny, and generally brilliant, so please read it).So anyway, on pops this short program called Inside Out, with three lifestyle stories. Now I don't usually write notes about 'serious' issues, as no-one likes a preacher on Facebook, after all, it's only for photos of pissed up nights out and gossip when someone's relationship status changes, BUT......I was particularly moved by the first feature that popped up, on something called 'Cord Transplants.'

It's a process that provides blood donations for sufferers of various diseases such as Leukemia (as opposed to potentially painful marrow donations) from discarded umblical cords following a birth. It's used as an alternative to bone marrow because this blood is also rich in useful stem cells that can create healthy red blood cells. I'm sure somewhere there's an ethical debate going on, but right now I can't think of a good reason why more people don't agree to this more; I was simply amazed that something so positive can come from something that's disposed of after use, and anything that can help treat this awful disease must be good.You can find more info here:

http://cks.library.nhs.uk/patient_information_leaflet/bone_marrow_transplant (scroll down a bit)Also, whilst I'm sort of on the subject, for those people who don't carry a donor card, but aren't dead against the idea, you might not know that you can actually register online here:https://www.uktransplant.org.uk/ukt/default.jspDon't worry, next note, I'll regress a few years to moan about my pet hates :)