Colonoscopy: Virtual or Optical?

Thoughts on the Lab School

Quinn Bradlee has done a wonderful thing using his experience to help other people ["Learning Disabilities Prompt Author to Offer Aid to Others," April 28]. That is exactly what Washington's Lab School does. Walk into the school's waiting area and you will see photos of famous people who have learning differences.

I question the interviewer's statement, "You entered the Lab School for learning-disabled students at the age of 4. That's extremely young." Age 4 is not "extremely young" to be educated.

The Lab School is a tremendous gift to parents and children who are lucky enough to get in. There are only a handful of schools that are equipped to properly teach children who are unable to learn in the "traditional" way. I could have benefited from a school like that. I am now 57.

Beth A. Isen

Bethesda

Free Cord-Blood Banking

Banking umbilical cord blood is useful when there is a sibling with a diagnosed medical condition that could be treated with a transplant of cord blood from the new baby ["Study Questions Value of Private Cord-Blood Banks," April 14].

A program recently implemented by the National Marrow Donor Program and the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration offers these families the opportunity to have the cord blood of a new baby collected and stored at no cost. The cord blood may then be used to treat the sibling with a disease such as leukemia, lymphoma, a sickle cell disorder, an immune deficiency or a metabolic disease. An estimated 5,000 families could benefit from the Related Donor Cord Blood Program each year.

Additional information and resources about the program and public banking can be found at http://www.bethematch.org/cord.

Catherine Claeys,

National Marrow Donor Program

Minneapolis