In August this year, after the removal of a tumour, we received the crushing news that our 2 year old son has cancer. In September it was found that the cancer had spread to the lungs and lymph nodes and was classed as stage IV and he would need to begin further treatment. He is now going through the brutal treatment that is chemotherapy.

When we signed the consent forms to agree for the NHS to begin Emmett's chemotherapy, we were signing to say we understood the risks involved with chemo and common side effects (such as mouth ulcers and hair loss...) But one of the risks they wrote on our form in addition to those mentioned plus a few more, was that this chemotherapy comes with a risk of cancer! Especially blood related cancers like leukaemia.

One of the things that my gut has been telling since I found out I was pregnant (I'll admit it, this pregnancy was unplanned) on top of all the other amazing reasons to be pregnant, is that it was happening now for a reason. I found out I was pregnant a couple of days before we found Emmett's lump. I told the GP I was pregnant the very same appointment that I told him about the lump we found that resulted in our urgent referral for an Ultrasound.

Anyway so skip forward 15 weeks from then to now and my consultant appointment yesterday. I discussed something that has been on my mind for a few weeks and that is collecting and storing baby's cord blood.
At the time of birth, immediately after cutting the cord, a specialist collects as much blood from the cord as possible. This contains stem cells and is then stored for future use, most commonly for blood based cancers.
This can be done on the NHS in just 5 hospitals in the country but only for the public bank. So in order to collect and store the blood for family future use (it matches and therefore benefits a sibling more than anyone) we would have to organise this privately. This comes to about £2000 and I am off unpaid whilst Emmett is unwell (hence the setting up this Go Fund Me page).
I emailed the charity Anthony Nolan to see if there was a chance that they can fund it on our behalf but they also only store for the public bank.

I am still looking into the best company to go with privately so the exact amount we require is still to be determined but I have just 18-21 weeks until I give birth so I need to start raising money asap.
We feel this is an important rare opportunity. We never thought we would be in the position we are in and here we are so we are going to take every way we can to protect our babies now and in the future. 
Any help to allow us to make the most of this opportunity in just about 20 weeks time would be very gratefully received.