it gives me great pleasure to tell you about our State Representative
David  R. Leitch whom co-authored and introduced HB1843.  he has also
become my friend, after having him speak at our last 3 pd events. he is
very dedicated to the cause of fighting human suffering and to the
rights of the disabled. the following two items are from the Peoria
Journal Star; the first one dated Sunday, July 27th, 2003 and the second
dated August 30th, 2003.

Encourage moms to donate umbilical stem cells
                             by: State Representative David R. Leitch

 The child is dying of cancer. Mom's got Alzheimer's. Dad has diabetes.
Our friend has arthritis. The neighbor has Parkinson's and up the block,
a once bright future rests paralyzed in bed with a spinal cord injury; a
casualty of the new motorcycle.

 Stricken friends organize chili suppers to help pay the bills. We
contribute to a myriad of charities to find the cure , to show our support.

 Want to help? Really help!

 Encourage Illinois moms to donate, not throw away, the umbilical cord
stem cells.

 Nature's greatest gift of life has been there forever, in the umbilical
cord, in the "cord blood,"
waiting for us to rescue this richest source of stem cells and use them
to relieve human suffering.

 But we routinely  discard the umbilical cord as medical waste without
harvesting the precious cord blood which is used worldwide for bone
marrow transplants, curing dozens of childhood cancers and,
increasingly, adult diseases. Does the child have sickle cell anemia?
Cord blood can change the blood type to provide a cure.

 The research promises new marvels--regenerative therapies for dementia,
stroke, heart disease, even pancreatic cells to reverse diabetes. In
this, Illinois must lead.

 HB1843 is a simple bill, albeit the first of its kind in the U.S, It
simply will require hospitals to ask pregnant women if they wish to
donate their cord before the afterbirth is discarded. The General
Assembly passed  the bill this spring and the governor signed it in July.

 All pregnant moms need do is sign up before the 335th week. In
confidence, the blood will be tested for hepatitis, etc. As with a
conventional blood donation, forms are completed. If accepted, the
mother receives a kit to bring to the hospital. After the birth , a
nurse or doctor collects up to six ounces of cord blood, which is
forwarded to a center for  tissue typing and then, frozen at minus 196
centigrade. It is stored either for research or for registry on the
National Marrow Donor, Caitlin-Raymond, or Worldwide Marrow Donor
registries.

 In spite of these registries, thousands die each year who might have
been saved by a marrow transplant had they been able to find a match.

 Because there are fewer on the registries, non-Caucasians without a
family match face even more remote odds. That's why it is especially
 urgent to recruit Asian, Native American, Jewish, Arab and other ethnic
groups to participate. It's literally life over death. Yet in 1998, over
4 million cords were thrown away. This is unacceptable!

Cord blood transplants (unless there's a direct family match) are
superior to conventional bone marrow transplants. With conventional
transplants, donor searches  take three-to-four months, odds are slim of
success; and the process is painful for both donors and recipients.
Rejection (or what is called graft host disease) is about 30%, compared
to less than 10% with cord blood. Cord blood is also cheaper ($13,300
per unit versus $30,000 conventionally). Florida's Medicare program
saved over $13.5 million over four years using cord blood for its
transplants. Results from an  Illinois study should be in soon.

 Pioneers at a division of Life-Source in Glenview (1-847-803-7965) have
operated a cord blood bank since 1996  and, despite frustration with
limited funding , are dedicated advocates.

 Twelve counties in southern Illinois are served by the St. Louis Cord
Blood Bank at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital (1-888-453-CORD)
though it is also restricted by limited funds to process and store the
cord blood.

Cryobank International , a Florida cord bank, is a dynamic company
(1-800-869-8608) which collects in the lower 48 states on a 24-hour basis.

 Cryobank President Dwight Brunohler  introduced me to this subject at a
University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria seminar last  year,
an event that set my mind racing in quest of a new goal: Let's make cord
blood  collections a routine part of childbirth in this country.

 Pro-life?  Pro-choice?  No problem. Every legislator in the House and
the Senate supported HB1843. The ethical imperative is to save life, not
throw it away. Indeed, the question on everyone's lips. Why are we
first? Why isn't this already routine?

Is there a practical problem now? Yes, we shall need to nurture the
infrastructure for the collection system to function smoothly. As with
anything new, there will be some bumps until the road is smooth.
But the first step is public awareness.
Demand from each of us the resources to make this happen. Now.

 (Rep. David R. Leitch of Peoria is serving his eight term in the
Illinois House and is a 25-year survivor of malignant melanoma. For more
information or for Cryobank application forms, call his office at
1-309-685-3900.)

 Harvest newborns' cord blood to fight disease, save lives

 When I stumbled onto State Rep. David Leitch's op-ed column of July 27
("Encourage moms to donate umbilical cord cells") I was pleasantly
surprised and inspired that the word about cord blood donation is making
its way to public comment.

 Just nine months ago, I was a cord blood donor at Kewanee Hospital. In
fact, I was Kewanee's first. When I approached my physician, he was very
supportive and even inquisitive about my decision to donate. I consider
myself lucky in that respect. Stem-cell research is often misjudged and
mislabeled. Many people associate the term stem cell with embryos and
thus get immediately turned off toward the topic. Who wouldn't?

 Yet the stem cells found in cord blood are not embryonic. Cord blood
stem cells require a new life. Also, in comparison to stem cells taken
from bone marrow, cord blood stem cells are considered more immature and
therefore more tolerant. Studies have shown, as stated on the Cord Blood
Donor Foundation Web page, that cord blood stem cells are more resistant
to infection and more effective in the treatment of disease than bone
marrow.

 How wonderful to give life in one instant and hold him/her in your
arms, and in the same instant donate that same fighting chance at life
to a child who needs it. The list of diseases treated ranges from
malignancies to inborn errors of metabolism to blood disorders.

 If you know someone who is afflicted or if you are an expecting mother,
it is worth your time to do the right thing. Donating is free to you and
priceless to the recipient.

 I realize that the debate over cord blood is varied, but why take
something so pure and available in this age of race-for-the-cures and
throw it away? I thank Rep. Leitch for his pioneering efforts on this
wonderful option for all the unborn children.
Jackie



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