ABOUT THE VICTORIA ANGEL REGISTRY OF HOPE: birth of an idea
In 2001, Mrs. Patrizia Durante was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 27 weeks into her first pregnancy in Montreal. Prior to the delivery of her baby, Patrizia had the foresight to ask her doctors to collect and store her child’s umbilical cord blood. At thirty-one weeks gestation, a healthy Victoria Angel was born, and her umbilical cord blood stem cells were collected and cryopreserved. This decision, ultimately, is why Patrizia is alive and well today. All other treatment modalities had failed for Mrs. Durante and fortunately her baby’s umbilical stem cells matched Patrizia’s needs. These cells replenished her bone marrow and cured her leukemia. Little Victoria Angel had saved her mother’s life.
Currently, bone marrow transplants are widely used in the treatment of many diseases. The process is long, bone marrow extraction is painful and often it is hard to find a suitable bone marrow donor for ill people. Bone marrow transplantation requires a perfect HLA antigen match. The recipient will reject the donated bone marrow unless all six (out of six) HLA antigens are matched perfectly between the donor and recipient. The chances of finding a suitable, matching bone marrow donor is particularly difficult for children of mixed ethnic backgrounds.
Fortunately, umbilical cord stem cells are more “universal” in their potential. A perfect HLA antigen match is not needed for receiving donated umbilical cord blood stem cells; a minimum of three of the six HLA antigens must match. This makes it much easier to find a donor. Of course, having your child’s cord blood stem cells banked eliminates the need to search for an anonymous cord blood donor or to find a matching bone marrow donor. However if you choose not to store your child’s cord blood, we hope that you will consider donating it to our publicly accessible division of our company.
At this time, Canadians do not have access to many HLA-typed cord blood samples for use. Other countries are much more proactive in this area. Japan has recently developed an Umbilical Cord Blood Public Bank - umbilical cord blood is collected at most births then is processed, HLA typed, and saved for any citizen in need. A national registry lists all HLA typed samples on hand and ill people have access to the samples for their medical treatment as required. The United States has put a great deal of money into research into developing medical treatments with Umbilical cord stem cells. Until our Canadian politicians organize such a program, Cells for Life has decided to become proactive in this area.
Members of the Cells for Life team believe that, in the perfect world, everyone should bank their child’s cord blood. However, it is estimated that less that 1% of parents in North America, at present, store their child’s cord blood at birth. The rest of the valuable cord blood is thrown away as waste! Many people are unaware of the potential that the stem cells hold. Unfortunately, not everyone realizes that they have access to this important treatment option.
Early in 2004, members of the Cells for Life team unanimously decided it was time to be proactive by developing a publicly-accessible/ donated division of our company. Our laboratory staff have volunteered their time and Cells for Life has used some of its profits to help to pay for the processing and storage of donated umbilical cord blood. Our goal at Cells for Life is to maintain our private cord blood storage facility and to establish a publicly-accessible cord blood program as an adjunct to our present services. We will, in essence, establish a program similar to Japan’s model but on a smaller scale, to allow access for all people in need.
We have already started, and have samples ready for use.
Dr. Virro met Patrizia Durante, her husband Luigi, and beautiful little Victoria Angel. He was incredibly moved by their story. Dr. Virro could not think of a better name for Cells for Life’s public division, The Victoria Angel Registry of Hope. Victoria Angel and Patrizia’s story clearly demonstrates how unique umbilical cord blood stem cells are, and how these cells can cure cancers and treat disease.
The Victoria Angel Registry of Hope is a publicly-accessible stem cell program that accepts donations of umbilical cord blood and makes the samples available to people throughout the world.
