Friend's death prompts woman to save son's umbilical cord stem cells

A mum whose friend's death from leukaemia prompted her to bank stem cells from her newborn's umbilical cord has described it as a "back-up" which has brought her reassurance.

Natalie Harrop, 40, from Newport, arranged to have a stem cell harvesting procedure with her baby son Arthur and said it was a "really straightforward" but important process.

The cells remain banked for the family to use if needed until Arthur turns 25, after which they can decide whether or not to donate them.

Leukaemia & Myeloma Research UK (LMRUK) said stem cells could be used for future treatment of blood cancers and other life-threatening illnesses, and described them as "effective biological health insurance".

Ms Harrop, a school wellbeing officer, was inspired to research leukaemia and cancer treatments following the death of her friend and colleague Jacqueline Walsh.

She described Ms Walsh as "a lovely lady" who was generous with her time, raising money for many different charities. "She touched everybody's hearts," she added.

One area of research Ms Harrop became interested in was stem cell harvesting, after discovering there were more than a million blood-producing stem cells in the blood within the umbilical cord and placenta.

Pregnant with her fourth child, Arthur, Ms Harrop discussed the procedure with her partner Gary Hardwick-Bishop, who agreed that they should apply to have it done.

The procedure involves the cells being retrieved from the umbilical cord after birth, stored and then collected to be banked.

"It feels like you've got a little back-up there, so if anything does come up, we have that on the side if we ever do need it," said Ms Harrop, whose other children are aged eight, 14 and 18.

"And not just for our family, but for anyone who is a DNA match to Arthur or to me, anybody that needs them."

Ms Harrop explained there were some criteria they had to meet to be eligible, including having someone in their family who had had cancer.

"Gary's dad had cancer in the past and recovered, so it was really important to him as well, and my grandad died of cancer when I was young," she said.

The mum said she faced "quite a few barriers" and had to "jump through a few hoops" to gather the correct documentation, but added she felt this was due to a lack of awareness among medical professionals and said the process itself was completely non-invasive.

She now hopes raising awareness about it will make the process more widely considered.

Ms Harrop recalled one midwife being quite unsure about it and asking if she was "jinxing herself".

"There's nothing negative that can come from it. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out, if the stem cells get damaged, they get damaged, but at least you've tried."

After seeking out her grandfather's death certificate as part of the application process and seeing his name, Arthur, on it, Ms Harrop said it also prompted the couple to name their baby after him.

Mr Hardwick-Bishop contacted the phlebotomist when Ms Harrop went into labour and Arthur was born at The Grange hospital in Cwmbran, Torfaen, on 31 October 2023 following a "horrendous birth".

"I ended up having an emergency caesarean, but whether you have a good birth or a bad birth you can still collect the cells, it doesn't really matter," said Ms Harrop.

The cord and placenta cells were transferred into a freezer, which stayed beside Ms Harrop at the hospital until they were collected and taken to a bank.

"They sent me a letter and a little certificate as well," she said.

She continued: "Since we kept his stem cells I've done a bit more research and it just seems like it's really difficult when children or adults need stem cells, they're not on hand.

"Which seems such a shame, when there are so many births daily. It just baffles me there are all these stem cells going to waste."

LMRUK runs a cord blood banking service, the Model Cell Biobank, and said taking stem cells from a baby's umbilical cord was "effective biological health insurance", providing options for treatment of the child or another member of the family should they need the stem cells in the future because of a serious illness, including blood cancer.

LMRUK recently joined forces with Smart Cells International, the UK's first private stem cell storage company, to procure, process and store cord blood stem cells for qualifying families.

The service is means-tested and is part-funded for some families, and fully funded for others, such as Ms Harrop's.

Dr Joanna Tilley, operations director at LMRUK, said stem cells were "vital" in cancer treatment, adding medical research was revealing new potential future uses for them.

Ms Harrop added: "Any new mums considering this, there is absolutely nothing to lose.

"If Jacki was alive, she was such a funny person and I can just imagine her saying it was amazing, she'd be the first one to be promoting anything like this."