Mar 26, 2012

StemInsure Gives Me Peace of Mind

Of course you already know about how you can store stem cells when your baby is born, right? Well cord stem cell collection in the dog is not really possible, but is there another opportunity, like maybe at the time of a spay or neuter or other elective surgery?  Yes, now there is such an opportunity.

I want to introduce Nancy Sapper.  She is a dog, cat and horse owner and is also the Marketing Manager at Vet-Stem.  Her story is amazing!

Hi All,

I am Nancy, the new Marketing Manager at Vet-Stem (I am the old Industry Relations Manager, but that’s a whole different blog!).  I grabbed the blogger keyboard from Dr. Bob today to tell you about my family’s personal experience with Vet-Stem’s newest service, StemInsure.

I cannot express how excited I personally am about this new service.  As many of you who regularly follow us on Facebook and Twitter know, Boomer, the mini Australian Shepherd, has been featured there frequently.  Boomer is my daughter’s dog.

Boomer was a gift to our family but forged a special bond with then 11 year old Kaley. Our neighbor has an agility class once per week and Kaley asked if she could start Boomer, at about 9 months of age, just to give him some exercise.  Well, both Kaley, and Boomer, thrived at it.  I was somewhat hesitant because working here at Vet-Stem, I frequently hear about cases of dog athletes getting injured doing what they love and the stories are heart-wrenching. I had some major concerns, but mostly, I didn’t want to see Kaley, or Boomer, go through that!  In the case where they are injured, a veterinarian will examine the dog for appropriateness of treatment and determine if they are healthy enough for surgery, and if they are, they go through the collection procedure to be able to obtain their stem cells. While that process works very well, the exciting part for me with Boomer is that STEMINSURE allows the collection procedure to be done concurrently with a planned, anesthetized, procedure and the stem cells are banked, then grown, when your dog needs them; say when they have blown something out giving their all for you during an agility trial.

When Boomer was neutered, his veterinarian took a small sample (about the size of a grape) from his falciform ligament, Vet-Stem processed it and cryopreserved it, here in our sterile environment. Much like the ability to store umbilical cord blood, Boomer now has his OWN stem cells waiting to be thawed and grown if he ever needs them.  He NEVER has to go through another surgery to collect his cells!  He can use them for an injury, arthritis, or maybe even something that will be discovered that we don’t even know stem cells can help him with yet!

The procedure is much less expensive than a separate surgery and collection.  Our vet worked with us every step of the way and storage of the StemInsure sample costs about the price of 10 Starbucks coffees every year ($50 banking fee to retain the cells).  I have peace of mind in the freezer for Boomer!

Kaley and Boomer participated in their first Agility Competition in February.  They won first place in the Junior Handler Division!  I am so grateful that I have peace of mind to let them do what they love.

Take a look at the new StemInsure webpage. We would love to hear your comments!

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