MUNSTER – At the Family Birthing Center of Community Hospital, new moms are sharing their joy by donating the gift of life to others after their baby’s delivery. Nurses in the Mom-Baby unit are offering new parents the opportunity to donate their baby’s umbilical cord blood, umbilical cord and placenta to research and transplantation. The non-embryonic stem cells can improve the quality of life for people affected by different cancers, Multiple Sclerosis, sickle cell anemia, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Crohn’s disease, lupus, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injuries and eye injuries.

Thousands of critically ill patients with blood diseases like leukemia and lymphoma are in urgent need of a life-saving transplant. Umbilical cord blood contains the kind of renewing or “healing” cells that can give blood cancer patients hope for a cure. Cord blood can only be donated immediately following baby’s birth and needs to contain enough blood-forming cells and be free from infection or disease to be used for transplant.

To find out more about the Family Birthing Center at Community Hospital in Munster, visit www.comhs.org/community.