The blending of races and ethnicities in Hawaiʻi results in the highest multi-race percentage in the United States. The diversity of our children enriches the character and resiliency of our local culture, much like the many different types and colors of flowers enhance a garden’s beauty. While Hawaiʻi leads a nationwide trend toward an increasingly mixed population, this diversity can pose challenges in certain areas of healthcare, such as transplantation. Bone marrow and blood stem cell transplants are life-saving treatments for a range of otherwise fatal conditions, including aggressive cancers, bone marrow failure, and inherited genetic disorders. For many multi-ethnic patients in Hawaiʻi, finding a suitable donor when a matching family member is unavailable can be particularly challenging, despite the existence of large national and international volunteer registries. However, we are in the best position to help ourselves, and the mission of the Hawaiʻi Cord Blood Bank (HCBB) is to facilitate this process.

The blood remaining in a newborn baby’s umbilical cord after birth contains the same type of stem cells found in bone marrow. Publicly banked cord blood stem cells from unrelated donors can serve as a viable therapeutic option for minority and mixed-race patients, including many who live in Hawaiʻi. In addition to transplants, innovative applications for umbilical cord blood are being developed to treat serious conditions such as cerebral palsy, autism, myocardial infarction, and stroke.

HCBB was created to help build a supply of cord blood stem cells from donors in Hawaiʻi. This will increase our access to these essential cellular therapies, while also making this gift available to patients worldwide. The spirit of Aloha that is the foundation of our island culture embodies the belief that we are all leaves of the same branch, connected by a common thread of wellbeing. Since its inception, HCBB has been supported by the Aloha of thousands of local families who have chosen to donate their babies’ cord blood. Over a hundred local physicians and countless more nurses donate their time and expertise to assist in the collections, and several local hospitals provide us space and other resources. HCBB is also deeply grateful for the generous financial backing it receives from individuals and foundations. Together, we are turning each child’s birth into an opportunity to give the gift of life a second time.