TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) - Newborns at Tucson Medical Center now have a chance to save lives across the country.

TMC is the first hospital in Southern Arizona that collects donated umbilical cord blood intended for life-saving stem cell transplants starting this October.

The hospital partnered with the Arizona Public Cord Program in collecting and processing cord blood donated by a consenting mothers.

With Tucson's demographic, TMC is poised to make an impact on a "significant shortage" of cord blood for Hispanics, Native Americans and African Americans.

Cord blood contains blood-forming stem cells that could cure dozens of blood diseases and cancers like leukemia and lymphoma.

"If you don't do anything, if you're not going to privately bank it, it will just be thrown away unless you decide to publicly donate it to us. I would say 95 percent of them say 'oh great, fantastic, I don't want it to go in the garbage if could save somebody's life," said TMC Cord Blood Coordinator, Kristen Wilt.

The average cost for a mother to bank her child's cord blood can be up to $1,500, plus an additional $150 annual fee to store the blood, according to Wilt.

But cord blood donated to the national registry is collected with no cost to the family through this program, due to funding from the Affordable Care Act. The Arizona Public Cord Program is part of the Arizona Biomedical Research Commission that works with the University of Colorado to store the blood.

"What we're trying to do is increase the registry so that patients, especially in these ethnic minorities, might be able to find a suitable match," OB/GYN and TMC Cord Blood Medical Director Dr. Manny Arreguin said.

Celina Martinez gave birth to her baby boy on Tuesday and upon hearing the donation could help children, decided to donate her son's umbilical cord blood to the national registry.

Read more from the original source:
Tucson Medical Center offering umbilical cord blood donation program