The first time John and Julie Aylward were expecting, it turned out to be twins and donating umbilical cord blood was not an option. But nearly two years later, they learned they had a new baby on the way and planned the delivery at Fairview Hospital’s Birthing Center.
It was a scheduled delivery, a Caesarean section, and as the nursing staff was preparing for the procedure, a representative from Fairview Hospital entered the room and asked them if they’d be interested in donating their baby’s cord blood. “They explained how they do it and how it benefits others – maybe even another child,” said Julie Aylward. “John and I discussed it. If you can save another life, why wouldn’t we do it? It was a decision we made together.”
The couple did wonder about the option of banking the cord blood unit for their family. “We tend to think of others first, not ourselves, and so we decided definitely, if we can help save somebody’s life, we should do this,“ she said.
After the cord blood was collected, it was sent to the Cleveland Cord Blood Center to be tested and processed. “We were told that they’d let us know if it was accepted for banking after the testing was complete. It was a good day when we received a certificate in the mail saying, “I donated my cord blood,” and it had baby Lucy’s name on it.”
Their daughter doesn’t know about the important donation she made when being born but she will someday. “We definitely plan to tell her when she’s ready for that conversation,” said Julie Aylward said. “It is such a positive feeling to think, wait, we did something very good, and it may save somebody’s life.”
During her pregnancy, she had been offered information about the process and signed up without hesitation. The opportunity to donate her first baby’s cord blood to a public cord blood bank wasn’t readily available at the time of her daughter, Skylar’s birth in 2015.
She found cord blood donation to be incredibly easy, “with no interruption at Nate’s birth, or during my bonding time with him,” she noted. “As an RN, I wish it would become the normal thing for everyone to do. It did not feel invasive at all.”
“Cord blood is precious…it’s like gold, and has so much potential to help so many,” she added.
“Anytime anyone I know is expecting and having a baby at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco, I suggest they consider donating their baby’s cord blood. It’s so easy.”