A transplant of stem cells from umbilical cord blood saved Mason from a deadly disease, Malignant Infantile Osteopetrosis.
And they are helping out others by joining with Main Line Health and Community Blood Services to establish the first public cord blood bank in Pennsylvania east of Pittsburgh.
Any mother giving birth at Lankenau or Bryn Mawr can donate umbilical cord blood, which would otherwise be thrown out, to the bank. That donation will be registered on the National Bone Marrow Donor Program, and can be used for anyonme in the world who needs a stem cell transplant.
It's being done through the Mason Shaffer Foundation.
Sarah Shaffer says, "We're doing this in honor of Mason's survival. It was such a positive outcome of his scenario, to say to other parents - you, too, can help to save someone's life like someone helped to save Mason's."
The blood bank will be operated by Community Blood Services, which operates New Jersey's public cord blood bank.
Dr. Dennis Todd, president and CEO of Community Blood Services, says we are only beginning to see the potential of these stem cells.
They are approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat cancers, blood disorders, and about a dozen other diseases.
But, like the controversial embryonic stem cells, blood stem cells are being tested for Parkinson's Disease, diabetes, and other disorders.
