'Incredible to hear my umbilical cord saved a life'

A 30-year-old woman said it was "incredible" to learn her donated umbilical cord was used by the NHS to save a child's life in Australia.

Jade Reed from St Albans, Hertfordshire, became the first person whose stem cells were used for emergency treatment via the NHS cord blood bank after it launched in 1996.

The process is anonymous so the NHS was unable to give full details of the beneficiary - but to mark the blood bank's 30th anniversary, Jade and her mum were told their donation helped a child with blood cancer.

"My cord blood went across the world to save the life of another child, when I was a toddler, it's insane - just mad," said Jade on hearing the news.

"My best friend had blood cancer as a child so it seems fitting to have helped someone in similar circumstances, that means a lot.

"It's amazing my cord blood went all that way to Australia," she added.

Run by the NHS Blood and Transplant service (NHSBT), the bank in Bristol has now issued more than 1,000 units.

Umbilical cords are rich in stem cells and the cord blood can be donated after birth without impacting baby or mother.

It is cryogenically frozen until a match is found.

Jade's cord was donated in 1996 and transported to Australia in 1998, becoming the first cord blood issued.

"I've always known we donated, my mum talks about it. It's nice to have been part of the early days," she said.

"It's done what we wanted the donation to do, save a life.

"You're not going to use it, there's nothing you can really do with it, why not donate it to help someone?" Jade added.

Jade's mum Sharon Keough, 52, said: "I thought it was quite amazing you could donate your cord blood and was happy to.

"To hear I was one of the early donors is special. When I was told our unit was the first one issued, I was blown away.

"I am really pleased, especially as we helped a child."

Sharon added: "We've done a good thing, why wouldn't you do that? It was so easy.

"I couldn't ask for more, to have had 30 years of Jade and to know we've saved a life."

NHSBT said its bank had provided stem cell transplants to 355 patients in the UK and 613 people overseas, including in Australia, the US, Brazil and Hong Kong.

The donations have helped more than 515 adults and more than 450 children, many of whom needed treatment for cancers, immune conditions and genetic disorders.

Alex Ross, the head of NHSBT's cord blood bank, said the 30th anniversary was "a special moment to thank the tens of thousands of mums and babies who have donated cord blood, and continue to do so at the maternity units we work with.

"The generosity of new mums means something that is otherwise thrown away goes on to save lives here and around the world - many of them children."

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