Baseball batting champion becomes
champion for cord blood banking

Hall-of-famer Rod Carew urges parents to bank their
baby’s valuable stem cells

More than 3000 career hits. Seven batting titles. Eighteen straight All-Star team
appearances. A league MVP honor. And a permanent place in the National
Baseball Hall of Fame. When it comes to professional baseball, Rod Carew had
the type of legendary career aspiring kids dream about. But when it came to the
health of the star’s own daughter, even his will and talent could not make a
difference. At age 18, Michelle Carew was diagnosed with leukemia—a curve
ball the Carew family never expected. Tragically, an intensive 9-month search
for a bone marrow donor was unsuccessful. Her Panamanian and Jewish
ethnic mix made it particularly difficult to find a suitable donor. And, despite an
exhaustive nationwide search by a motivated and prominent father, Michelle
passed away in 1996 before a donor could be located.

Today, parents have an opportunity to bank their baby’s placental and cord
blood stem cells at birth to help best prepare and protect their family for the
future. This was not an option for the Carews when their daughter Michelle
was born. Had it been, those cells could have been privately stored and would
have been immediately and exclusively available to the Carew family—which
may have given young Michelle a chance to survive. Today, Mr. Carew is
working hard to raise awareness about placental and cord blood stem cell
banking. In honor and remembrance of Michelle, Mr. Carew’s mission is to make
sure all parents know about their cord blood banking options, especially the
potential lifesaving benefits of Placenta•Cord banking. This exclusive service of
LifebankUSA™ enables families to bank stem cells from both the placenta and
the umbilical cord—for more cells and more therapeutic promise.

“Saving a newborn’s placental and cord blood stem cells is the best gift parents
can give to their child,” he urges today’s parents. Once again, Rod Carew is
swinging for the fences. This time he hopes his contributions will be even more
valuable.