GOVERNOR RICK PERRY, CHAIRMAN ELIZABETH AMES JONES

AND COMMISSIONER ALBERT HAWKINS ANNOUNCE MILESTONE

DONATIONS FOR TEXAS CORD BLOOD BANK

Governor Presents $1.2 Million Dollar Matching Grant to
Texas Cord Blood Bank

SAN ANTONIO – Three driving forces behind the establishment of the Texas Cord Blood Bank (TCBB), Governor Rick Perry, Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Elizabeth Ames Jones and Texas Health and Human Services Commissioner Albert Hawkins traveled to San Antonio to acknowledge an important milestone in the collection of cord blood units and present TCBB officials with a $1.2 million matching grant to expand its programs.  State representatives Joe Straus (San Antonio) and Myra Crownover (Denton County), along with Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, were among the dignitaries on hand for the presentation.

The Texas Cord Blood Bank opened in 2004 and is the first public bank in Texas. It was established through a $1 million start-up grant and a matching grant from the State of Texas. The TCBB is managed by the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center and is a source of ethnically diverse, life-saving umbilical cord blood, which can provide lifelong blood production for children and adults with certain blood disorders, including leukemia.

Only five months into the collection of umbilical cord blood donations, Governor Perry and Chairman Jones announced that the TCBB has reached an important milestone with the collection of more than 1,000 cord blood units. Six thousand units of cord blood must be collected to make the program self-sustaining.

Governor Perry, Commissioner Hawkins and Chairman Jones also presented TCBB representatives with a check for $1.2 million for a matching grant. “The matching grant will help TCBB obtain equipment and supplies for storing and testing donated cord blood units,” stated the Governor. “The funds will also provide lifesaving transplant options for hospital patients in Texas.”

“Today marks an incredible milestone not only for the Texas Cord Blood Bank but also for the children and adults throughout our state who suffer from cancer, immune deficiencies and blood disorders such as leukemia,” said Chairman Jones. “We are well on the way to helping the TCBB reach its goal of storing a minimum of 6,000 cord blood units from across Texas.”  Chairman Jones continued to say that with the TCBB successfully up and running, she looks forward to continuing her support and further establishing the TCBB as a life-saving resource for Texans in need.

“Today’s announcements are a direct result of the tireless efforts of the Governor, Chairman Jones and Commissioner Hawkins,” said Dr. Norman D. Kalmin, president and medical director of the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center. “Chairman Jones successfully spearheaded the effort to establish a public umbilical cord blood center in Texas and worked to educate her colleagues in Austin about the value of cord blood in the treatment of cancer and other diseases in children. And, under the direction of the Governor, we received the much needed initial funding to get the TCBB operational. For the positive impact these efforts will make in lives of our Texas residents, we thank them.”

The Texas Cord Blood Bank is a state and privately funded program established to create a public supply of umbilical cord blood. The TCBB is a division of the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center and is the state’s only public bank for umbilical cord blood. 

Although usually discarded after the birth of a health baby, umbilical cord blood is rich in blood-making cells that can be used – like bone-marrow transplants – to treat a number of potentially fatal diseases. These include cancers, such as lymphoma and leukemia; disorders of the blood-making system, such as sickle-cell anemia; severe immune-system disorders; and genetic defects affecting the blood-making system.

For more information on the Texas Cord Blood Bank, please call 210-731-5555.

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