When I was pregnant with George, the question was: Should we store Georgie’s stem cells when he is born or shouldn’t we? Truth be told, it wasn’t something we had ever thought of, until I was pregnant and I started to do some research. The idea and hope is that we’ll never have to make use of them, but should something happen, we’d have such  peace of mind knowing that his stem cells could save his life.

It came down to simply having no regrets and we decided to store his stem cells for 20 years. I did a lot of research and our company of choice was Cryo-Save.

You can read about how it was done here in George’s Birth Story. In 2017, George’s umbilical blood cord was successfully stored.

I’m days away from giving birth to Baby G2, when suddenly I received an email, late one evening that read:

So you can imagine my shock to read that!

The next morning I called Cryo-Save SA to find out what was going on. The call was answered straight away and I spoke to the most wonderful woman, who had been fielding phone calls all day. She had the patience of an Angel… I think I was phone call number 4200. I’m not even joking. This poor team at Cryo-Save SA were having to do serious damage control and put out major fires and it was all hands on deck as the calls started pouring in.

So in a nut shell, Cryo-Save Europe has gone bankrupt, but Cryo-Save SA has a separate holding company that is completely stand alone. Although CryoSave SA has had an association with CryoSave International, it operates independently, as a separate legal entity.

It is not affected at all by the bankruptcy and in contrast, Cryo-Save SA is thriving! Cryo-Save Europe had no right to contact Cryo-Save globally and this is where the chaos ensued, but luckily the team were on it to ease any worried parents minds.

If you have banked your babies stem cells with Cryo-Save SA, they are safe.

However, if you would like to check, you’re welcome to call 087 808 0170. You can also read more here from their website: Your Child’s stem cells continues to be securely stored!

The staff are amazing and so informative. They put me at ease immediately and it’s yet another reason why I am keeping my faith and trust in the company and we will be banking Baby G2’s Stem Cells with Cryo-Save SA too.

If you’re wondering why we are doing this, let me explain:

Stem cells should be called master cells as they can replicate, regenerate and differentiate themselves into any one of 200 different specialised cells in the body, and are used to treat over 80 potentially life-threatening blood related diseases including leukaemia, lymphoma and bone marrow failures.

Rather safe than sorry!

For more info go to their website: www.cryosave.co.za