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Editorial Note:  Names have been changed to protect the privacy of all involved in this true story.  This story is a testament to other similar stories that are emerging globally and ASCH will continue to keep parents and the health care community informed as part of the company's education and awareness programme.

While Jenni and her husband Matt were expecting their first child, they became aware of the potential benefit of collecting and banking Umbilical Cord Blood and the use of the stem cells found in cord blood to treat certain blood disorders such as leukaemia.

Their Obstetrician was supportive of collecting the umbilical cord blood, so they arranged for Cellsense, now part of Australian Stem Cell HealthCare (ASCH), to collect, process and store their baby's cord blood.

It never occurred to Jenni and Matt that the cells would be required so soon.

When their son, Luca, was born he was bright, happy, rarely complained but was difficult to settle.

But it wasn't until Luca was two years old that his mum and dad took him to the doctors after a persistent backache failed to get better. Luckily it was the beginning of a long weekend, and their GP did not want to wait for an X-ray until the following week so Luca was sent off to a leading hospital in Melbourne. "That's when life for us changed," Jenni recalls.

Luca was diagnosed with an uncommon form of cancer. His oncologist informed Luca's parents that he was born with the tumour and that this may have been the cause of his early difficulties in settling.

Luca was immediately started on an intense program of chemotherapy and radiotherapy and the tumour responded, decreasing in size. But it was only a reprieve and three months later, following another complaint about a pain, an MRI scan revealed the tumour was back and it was more aggressive.

It was decided that Luca should undergo an operation that would, hopefully, remove the tumour. By this time Luca was an old hand at hospital life. A mature and articulate boy, with a blinding smile, Luca had not only charmed hospital staff, but he was also directing them as to how to manage his medication, such as how much chocolate flavouring (his favourite) should be put on the anaesthetic mask.

What Luca, his parents and the staff could not do was protect him from the effects of the chemotherapy. This treatment is designed to kill off the cancer cells, but in doing so the healthy cells, and in particular, immune cells that protect the body, also were destroyed. Without these healthy immune cells, Luca could succumb to the slightest infections such as a cold.

However, Luca had what many other sick children do not have, namely, his own supply of his healthy cord blood cells that were collected at birth from his umbilical cord and cryogenically stored (i.e. stored at very low temperatures). These cord blood cells were infused back into Luca after the final high-dose chemotherapy treatment. These cells, which were initially stored in the hope that Luca might never have to use them in his lifetime, became critical in keeping Luca healthy enough to fight his disease.

Jenni and Matt both agree, they never thought that for the 18 years their son's cord blood cells would be stored, the family would ever need these cells. "Yet here we are with Luca at the age of three and the banking of his cells has saved him from the pain and an extra high dose of chemotherapy that would have been required if the cells were donated from a third party, rather than his own stored cells".

Jenni and Matt are keen to make sure that other parents know of the possibility of banking their children's cord blood at birth. "If we hadn't been aware that cord blood banking was possible, or our Obstetrician hadn't been so positive about cord blood banking, we would be faced with not only dealing with the cancer, but with Luca dealing with a difficult recovery from his treatment".