Mamapanda,
I did not bank / donate Isaac's cord blood. But for Matthew, I donated it. I feel that unless there is known family history, particularly among siblings, or genetic predisposition to diseases which may benefit from cord blood transplant, the chances of ever using the cord blood is very low.
Got this from the American Academy of Pediatrics website:
http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/jan07cordbloodfaq.htm
* Cord blood donation should be encouraged with the cord blood is stored in a bank for public use.
* Private cord blood banking should be encouraged when there is knowledge of a full sibling in the family with a medical condition (malignant or genetic) that could potentially benefit from cord blood transplantation.
<font color="ff0000">* If banking for future personal or family use, parents should know that most conditions that might be helped by cord blood stem cells already exist in the infant's cord blood and would not be used (ie, premalignant changes in stem cells).
* Storing cord blood as "biological insurance" should be discouraged because there currently is no scientific data to support (self) autologous transplantation.</font>
That's why I don't see much benefit in private cord blood banking. I much rather donate it so that the cord blood may eventually save someone else life, if it was a match. The chances of this happening may be higher than us having to use it for our own.