Syracuse, N.Y. -- Luca Vassallo went through five rounds of chemotherapy, localized radiation and multiple surgeries to deal with the aftermath of his cancer treatment, all before he turned 1 year old.
In the end, the procedure that sent him into remission involved an intravenous drip and a strangers donated blood cells.
Its like a transfusion, said Lucas mother, Manal Vassallo, of Camillus, explaining how donated blood from a strangers umbilical cord filled her boys body with healthy cells.
They take a vial and hook it up through the IV and drip the cord blood in, Vassallo said. It was a really peaceful day.
Blood transplants like the one that helped Luca could become much more prevalent throughout New York. Today, Upstate Medical University will break ground on a $15 million, state-owned public cord blood bank, the second of its kind in New York.
The long-delayed Upstate Cord Blood Bank, at the former Community General campus in Onondaga, will store blood donations collected from umbilical cords and placentas, which most often are thrown out after deliveries.
Those materials contain stem cells, building blocks of the immune system that generate new blood and can even change a recipients blood type. Cord blood stem cells are used in the treatment of more than 60 malignant, genetic and acquired blood diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma and sickle cell anemia.
Through the donations of cord blood from families all across our region, we have the ability to save lives through transplantation and further fuel biomedical research that may move us closer in finding breakthroughs for dozens of diseases, said Dr. David Smith, president of Upstate.
The facility is part of a nationwide push to grow cord blood collections and solicit more donations from women of different races and ethnicities to increase the chance for successful transplants.
We want to develop in this country an inventory so that anyone who qualifies, by their disease, could have this available, said Tom Quinn, the senior vice president for health system development at Upstate. Right now, (the pool is) not as genetically diverse as it ought to be.
Original post:
Upstate Medical breaking ground today on $15 million cord blood bank