St Albans woman learns donated umbilical cord saved child's life

Image source, Sharon Reed Image caption, Jade Reed was born in 1996, the same year the NHS launched its cord blood bank

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.