Rugby star stores kids tooth cells
Former Rugby player and reality star Kyran Bracken has preserved stem cells from his children’s teeth to protect their future.
The one-time England international, who won Dancing On Ice, discovered that storing the cells could potentially save his children Charlie, six, Jack, four, and Lochlan, one, should they develop any serious illnesses.
Such illnesses include leukemia, a number of cancers and some blood disorders. Scientists are also developing ways to use stem cells to repair heart tissue, cartilage and nerves.
The younger Brackens are all registering cells with BioEden (BE), the only stem cell storage company in the UK.
When kids’ teeth drop out they are packaged and sent to BE’s lab and the cells are extracted. The cells are then stored in a test tube at 170°C for a number of decades.
WhiIe the cell processing procedure costs £950 and storage £90 a year there is no guarantee that the stem cells will save lives.
Bracken said that the process was expensive but said that he wouldn’t like to think he had done nothing if one of his children became ill.
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