DENVER -- Recent research shows a newborn's cord blood stem cells can be used to treat dozens of life-threatening diseases.

"Cord blood can be used in place of bone marrow transplants for patients who have blood diseases, like leukemia," said Sarah Kuenne, Cord Blood Specialist at the University of Colorado Blood Bank.

The University of Colorado operates a public cord blood bank, paid for with a federal grant. Almost anyone can donate. It's then made available to anyone in need.

To donate is painless and doctors say it is risk free to mom and baby.

"It's a process where the blood is obtained after the baby is delivered, The umbilical cord has been clamped and cut and the baby has been passed off to the nurses caring for the baby. That's when we obtain the blood. It's sitting in the umbilical cord and we're waiting for the placenta to deliver, and it's nothing more than putting a needle into the vessel and getting the blood to drain," said Dr. Gerald Zarlengo, director of Women's and Children's Services at St. Joseph's Hospital.

St. Joseph's Hospital is one of two metro-area hospitals that have been part of the university's public cord blood banking program for the past few years.

"We didn't know anything about it at all. We came to the class expecting to walk around the hospital and see what we were getting ourselves into, and then they gave this option to us of donating and helping someone else out in the process of receiving our blessing," said new father, Mike Williams.

"Mike's niece had actually passed away in April of this year from leukemia," added Mike's wife, Soraya. "(To donate) was an easy decision for me. It doesn't cost anything. It's helping somebody else for nothing."

Umbilical cord blood is special because it's full of an abundance of hematopoietic, or blood-forming, stem cells, according to Kuenne. It has similar properties as bone marrow, but it's much easier to obtain. It's also easier to find a match, Kuenne said, because a baby's immune system isn't fully mature.

This field of research is relatively new, just since the 70s. However, so far, it's promising.

Cord blood stem cells have been used to treat more than 75 different diseases, including cancers, blood diseases and immune disorders.

"There's a lot of research going on right now, because it is new, and there's a lot of potential disorders that it could treat, like maybe cerebral palsy and Type 1 diabetes," said Kuenne.

Just in donations from St. Joseph's, more than 250 cord blood units have gone out for transplants around the world and here locally.

"In the past we've had three families come back to us, who have donated their cord blood, and we've been able to return cord blood to them and have it be used as a life-saving treatment for their family," said Kuenne.

Public donation is different than private, because families who donate publicly can't save the blood for themselves. However, families can pay for private companies to store cord-blood for future use. Some private companies charge thousands of dollars for this service. Public donation is free.

"We are happy to work with any family who has donated to us previously. So, if something were to come up in your own family and you had donated to our cord blood bank, we would work with your doctor to determine the best match available. We can't guarantee that it would be yours, even if yours was still available. An unrelated match might be a better fit for the situation," said Kuenne.

If you're interested in donating there are a few eligibility requirements. A mother has to be having only one baby, not multiples, the baby's gestational age at the time of delivery must be greater than 35 weeks, it must be a vaginal delivery, and the mother and baby must be in good health.

Currently, the university program collects at St. Joseph's Hospital and Denver Health. Women who deliver at other hospitals can still donate, but need to contact the University of Colorado's cord blood bank program by the 34th week of pregnancy to set it up.

For more information, call 303-724-1306.