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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn