A family from Cheshire has become the first in the UK to freeze tissue from their newborn baby’s umbilical cord in case of future ill health.

The Daily Mail reports that Paula and Peter Aspinall had both tissue and blood extracted from baby Daniel’s umbilical cord after his birth, which will be cryogenically frozen for the next 20 years. The couple have a three-year-old daughter Megan and all are healthy.

Stem cells are the body’s building blocks and cord-blood stem cells have already been used to treat some of the 85 different diseases of the blood and immune system that they can be used for, including bone marrow transplants and cancer treatments.

Researchers say that stem cells from the umbilical cord can help repair damaged bone, cartilage and muscles – and well as helping to beat illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome.

Around 11,000 UK couples have already paid for the extraction of cord-blood stem cells. The company Future Health Technologies Limited in Nottingham has 25,000 such samples in storage, with around one-third coming from British families.

The umbilical cord tissue and blood for the Aspinall family will be a perfect match for Daniel and a near match for his sister – but could even provide essential stem cells should his parents ever become seriously ill.

Mrs Aspinall said:

'I think it is a waste that the cord is routinely thrown away. I know the chances of needing this sample are very slim and I hope we never have to use it. But the umbilical cord helps give life right from the start, so why not make it a potential life-saver for the future?’

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