There’s new hope for blood cancers, and it comes from umbilical cords
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/theres-new-hope-for-blood-cancers-and-it-comes-from-umbilical-cords/2016/09/02/04620816-2d89-11e6-9b37-42985f6a265c_story.html"Jessie Quinn of Sacramento was 36 years old when loss of appetite, weight loss, some eye issues and finally pelvic pain sent her to the emergency room in 2010. Tests quickly revealed she had acute myeloid leukemia — a type of blood cancer that progresses quickly — and doctors told her that chemotherapy would probably not be enough; she would need a bone-marrow transplant.
Quinn, who has a science background, knew that finding a donor would be difficult. In college, she had donated to a bone-marrow registry after learning that people like her, with a mixed racial heritage, have a much harder time than others finding a match.
In fact, when she and her doctors scoured the registry for a match for her, only one name came up: her own.
“I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry,” Quinn said.
While searching unsuccessfully for a match for five months, Quinn underwent four cycles of chemotherapy to keep the leukemia at bay. What eventually saved her, though, was an experimental transplant using stem cells from the blood of a baby’s umbilical cord, an approach that can be used without perfectly matching blood types...."
This month is blood cancer awareness month and they are hoping to raise 300K, this is just a drop in the bucket compared to what is spent on wars or elections, if you can please help, thank you!
Leukemia and lymphoma society
http://www.lls.org/
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and very happy to hear of their success for those who do not find a match and as we all become 'more blended' the hopes of finding a perfect match becomes more challenging. One person we became familiar with in 2010 finally found a match on a Asian registry, unfortunately he is now looking at a second transplant and the original donor is not available.
Since my husband's first transplant in 2010 and subsequent second transplant on 12/31/14 after relapse they have come such a long way! Cord plus haplos, as a bridge, have become somewhat commonplace in recent years, but that is more complicated when you add another immune system to the mix. If one can expand a singular (cord) donor for transplant and possibly have additional cells to use in case of relapse, DLI (donor lymphocyte infusion) that would be fantastic! We lived with a couple of people in 2015 at Hope Lodge in NYC that had a combo, haplo plus one cord and haplo plus two cords, both are doing well. In one instance the dominant cord took over, in the other the haplo took over.
Yes we need to pay attention to science and fight those who block the advancement of giving life another chance.
We're getting there, day by day 
