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Jack Chieh and Yinnie Wong with their baby, born last Friday (Chinese New Year). The couple donate their babys umbilical cord blood to BCs umbilical cord blood bank. Womens clinic & health center.

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Yinnie Wong and Jack Chiehs six-pound, 13-ounce boy still unnamed was born on a promising day, January 24, Chinese New Year, and is already doing well in the world.

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Everyone was really happy, its supposed to be a lucky day, said Wong.

Although the birth was a scheduled caesarean section, Wong had no control over the date the hospital administrators chose for the birth. What she controlled was the decision to donate her babys umbilical cord blood to BCs umbilical cord blood bank. Womens clinic & health center, which has just celebrated its fifth anniversary.

Umbilical cord blood is blood that is drawn from the umbilical cord and placenta immediately after the birth of a healthy child. Cord blood is rich in stem cells and can be used to treat over 80 diseases, including leukemia.

According to Canadian Blood Services, ethnically diverse donors are particularly in demand, since according to Stats Canada 67.7 percent of Canadians consider their ethnic origins to be different, but only 31 percent of Canadians with blood in the Canadian stem cell registry have an ethnically different background.

Crystal Nguyen, 20, is a former B.C. Childrens hospital patient whose life was saved by a stem cell transplant from donated umbilical cord blood. Nguyen was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia for the first time at the age of 12. After chemotherapy, she went into remission for almost three years. Then the cancer returned. She was told she needed a bone marrow transplant.

Crystal Nguyen, now 20, was first diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia at the age of 12. She found a match between stem cells and a required bone marrow transplant via the international umbilical cord blood bank.

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When I fell behind, I was very confused, it was kind of surreal. The main thing when I was told that I needed the bone marrow stem cell transplant was confusion, fear, and restlessness.

Nguyen is of Vietnamese descent and needed a match to survive. In her family there was no match or stem cell match in the Canadian cord blood bank. Thanks to Canadian Blood Services partnerships with 47 international blood banks, a match was found.

I was told that it came from somewhere in the distance via the international cord blood bank, said Nguyen, who has been in remission since the transplant.

When she found out that the stem cell transplant was successful, Nguyen, who is now studying to become a pediatric oncology nurse, said it felt too good to be true.

There was a lot of luck, joy and excitement. Donating umbilical cord blood is so easy to save a life.

Although cord blood can be collected and stored by private companies for a fee and is reserved for use by the donor family, the cord blood donated through Canadian Blood Services is available to the public free of charge whoever needs the match.

Wong didnt hesitate when her son was born. I felt like I wanted to do it if it helped someone in public and if it could save lives I would have been very happy to help another child, said Wong, a B.C. nurse. Womens Hospital.

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Umbilical cord blood donation: The family of the Chinese New Year baby gives life - Daily Gaming Worlld