NBA legend and Philadelphia 76er Julius “Dr. J” Erving thanked Christiana Care Health System for providing for new mothers a safe, effective way to donate their babies’ cord blood during a special event late last month at the John H. Ammon Medical Education Center.
At age 19, while a freshman at the University of Massachusetts, Erving lost his 16-year-old brother Marvin to lupus erythematosus, an autoimmune disease. When Erving was 34, his older sister Alexis died of colon cancer at age 37. In 2005, Erving successfully lobbied Congress to pass a bill that increased stem cell research by using umbilical cord blood.
“It is exciting for me to lend myself to this cause, and it is specifically exciting for me to come to Christiana Care,” Erving said. “From what I understand, most of the babies born in Delaware are delivered by Christiana Care, so we’re with the right group today, and we’re with the right team.”
Through Christiana Care’s new partnership with CORD:USE, new mothers now have the option to donate their newborn’s cord blood to the nation’s top cord-blood banking organization. Although 4 million births take place in the United States each year, cord blood is stored in only 5 percent of those births.
“Christiana Care entered this partnership with CORD:USE because we have a unique opportunity to tremendously increase the number of mothers who are able to donate their cord blood,” said Janice Nevin, chief medical officer for Christiana Care. “At Christiana Care, it is our responsibility to help increase the rate of cord blood storage through our innovative systems of care and through the innovative system of storage that CORD:USE uses.”
Through the partnership, Christiana Care educates new mothers about their options of cord blood donation and family banking, and coordinates donations. CORD:USE collects blood from within the donated umbilical cord — the part of the placenta that transports nutrients to a fetus — after a baby is born. CORD:USE prepares the cord blood and stores the stem cells that eventually can be harnessed to treat diseases that require stem cell transplants.
To date, more than 70 different diseases are currently treated with stem cells from umbilical cord blood, including leukemia, lymphoma and sickle-cell anemia. Christiana Care is the only hospital system in the Philadelphia area that partners with CORD:USE.
