Stem Cells and Cord Blood Saving More Lives

02 MAR 2010 10:49 AM

by Brian McDonald

Another example of the inevitable triumph of stem cells...

Cleveland, Ohio (CNN) -- Diana Tirpak was so sure her leukemia was going to kill her, she bought a suit for her husband, Jake, to wear at her funeral.

"I was bound and determined he was going to look fine at the funeral," says Tirpak, 68, a retired school nurse in Hudson, Ohio.

Until recently, Tirpak would have faced a death sentence without a bone marrow transplant. But Tirpak's physician, Dr. Mary Laughlin, turned to something deemed medical waste until recently: umbilical cord blood.

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