kjdrill

We haven't made a deposit in our bank since June of 2005. We also haven't seen the need to make a withdrawal in that time. I often wonder how to even make a withdrawal if we needed to. I mean, could I take out just a little bit at a time or would I need to take one lump sum, closing my account? It would be really cool if they gave us an ATM card of sorts so that we could easily control when and how much we wanted to take out.

Then again, a withdrawal of cord blood from a machine could get a little messy.

We got a letter yesterday from the bank which is storing our youngest son's cord blood regarding a University of Florida study currently in the enrollment phase. In this trial, cord blood will be infused into children with type 1 diabetes in an effort to help regenerate the insulin-producing beta cells or to alter the autoimmune destruction of the cells. In other words, they're looking for a cure.

It definitely piqued my interest. A little fun in the Florida sun. Hit the beach, go get Charlie a cure for diabetes, maybe ice cream after. I'd be down with that.

I emailed the contact and it turns out Charlie does not qualify because this particular study involves the patient's own cord blood, not a sibling's.

We will, however, enroll Maeve and Ben in something called The Panda Study. Sounding eerily familiar to a secret experiment from the show Lost, Maeve and Ben will sustain themselves on a diet of only bamboo for 60 days.

Sorry, that's a lie. PANDA stands for Prospective Assessment in Newborns of Diabetes Autoimmunity. They will have blood drawn to be screened for genetic risk of developing type 1 diabetes. Susanne and I will also give blood to be screened in something called the Natural History Study.

Charlie is a little too excited for this role reversal. For the first time, the rest of the family will give blood while he gets to kicks up his heels comfortably in the waiting room.

If anyone has any cord blood lying around or wants more details regarding the other free studies, I'd be happy to pass along the contact information. Have a great weekend.