ADDENDUM: As of February 2015, we no longer have the funding to collect umbilical cord in Nottingham. For more information on our available hospitals, please visit our dedicated Cord pages.
New mums in Nottingham now have the opportunity to give life twice in one day, by donating their umbilical cord blood to someone in desperate need of a stem cell transplant.
We've opened two new cord blood collection centres in Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital, thanks to funding from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund.
It means that pregnant women in the city could save a life, simply by donating something that is normally thrown away - with no hassle or risk to the mother or baby.
Nottingham is already home to our cell therapy centre, described by a local consultant as ‘one of the best cord blood banks in the world’, but until now, women in the city haven’t been able to donate their own cord blood.
'The opportunity to cure someone of blood cancer'
Dr Susana Gomez, Head of Cord Blood Bank at Anthony Nolan, said: ‘Collection of cord blood is vital in the fight against blood cancers such as leukaemia. For many people with these conditions, a stem cell transplant is their only hope of a cure, but only half of these people can find a match through the Anthony Nolan bone marrow register.
‘The blood from umbilical cords is rich in potentially life-saving stem cells that can be used in a transplant, but all too often is discarded as there are only a small number of centres equipped to collect it. It’s no exaggeration to say that these new centres will give women who choose to have their baby in Nottingham the opportunity to cure someone of blood cancer.’
It's so simple to donate
Sarah Hancox, 27, an expectant mum and a senior nurse in Nottingham City Hospital’s haematology ward, plans to donate her cord blood at the new centre.
Mrs Hancox, who is pregnant with her first child, explains: ‘My baby is due in April, so when I found out that the new centres would be open in time for me to donate my cord blood, I was so pleased. In my line of work, I often work with very sick patients who need a stem cell transplant, so I’m very aware of the need for these cells. It’s such a simple but amazing thing to be able to do for someone in desperate need.
‘But if I wasn’t a nurse, I probably wouldn’t even know it was possible to donate your cord blood for these life-saving transplants, so it’s really important to me to help spread the word now that we have these new centres in Nottingham.’
Penny Cole, Midwife Supervisor for Anthony Nolan’s cord blood collection programme in Nottingham, said: ‘Many pregnant women are surprised to find out that it’s so simple to donate their cord blood and that it doesn’t affect the birth of their baby at all. In fact, most women say they hardly even know we’re there and that it can make their day even more special in the knowledge that their newborn baby could be giving someone else a chance of life.’
The two Nottingham centres are part of a project to open three new centres in the UK, thanks to the £1.7 million funding from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund.
'Life-changing' for black and ethnic minority communities
This will be particularly life-changing for those from black and ethnic minority communities, who have less chance of finding an unrelated adult donor through the bone marrow register. Indeed, Anthony Nolan targeted Nottingham University Hospitals as a base for the new centres due to the city’s wide ethnic mix.
Professor Nigel Russell from the Centre for Clinical Haematology at Nottingham University Hospital is an advocate of cord blood collection, and has hailed the new centres as ‘life-changing’.
Professor Russell said: ‘The establishment of cord stem collection centres in the Maternity Units at Nottingham University Hospitals is a brilliant development and will be life-changing for many families. Anthony Nolan has established one of the best cord blood banks in the world in Nottingham. It seems only right that cords should be collected locally.
‘Cord blood stem cells can be a lifeline for patients who lack a bone marrow donor; the Nottingham bone marrow transplant unit at the City Hospital has increasingly used cord blood stem cells for transplants over the last three years. These patients have done extremely well and we wish to continue to collaborate with Anthony Nolan in order to save more lives.’
How to donate cord
We currently collect cord blood in seven hospitals in London, Birmingham, Nottingham and Leicester. We work closely with the NHS cord programme to make sure that, together, we’re meeting the UK need for cord blood. We started our programme to collect cord blood in 2008,and are aiming to collect 15,000 cord blood units.
To find out more about our cord programme, and whether you might be eligible to donate, visit www.anthonynolan.org/cord.