Family Starts Own Cord Blood Program

At just 5-months-old, Mason Schaffer was diagnosed with osteopetrosis, a disease which causes the sufferer’s bones to harden and can result in stunted growth and deformities. Mason found three perfect cord blood matches and promptly received a transplant that has cured him of the disorder. Before their son was diagnosed, Marc and Sarah Schaffer were unaware of the benefits of banking and donating cord blood, and they have made it their mission to expand the use of cord blood in New Jersey.

Shortly after Mason began seeing positive signs of recovery, Sarah and Marc set out on the path to help other families that may be suffering with similar issues. They established a foundation in the name of their son which gives mothers delivering at Bryn Mawr Hospital and Lankenau Medical Centre the chance to donate their babys’ cord blood free of charge.

"We felt it necessary to make that opportunity available to other parents to do what somebody else did for us," Shaffer said.
Today, Mason’s bones are still going through the remolding process, but his doctors say that he is cured of the disease. The Schaffer family wants to provide other children with the same second chance that their son received and are dedicated to expanding the total cord blood donations in the state of New Jersey.
 

http://www.masonshafferfoundation.org/msfevents.asp

http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/health-science/item/18983-bank