Zulay and Paul have two beautiful sons, for whom they used Smart Cells to store their cord blood. In this exclusive video, Zulay explains that she was very passionate about storing their children’s stem cells which can currently be used to treat more than 80 diseases.

Smart Cells were Zulay’s choice for collecting and storing both of their sons’ precious stem cells which she describes as the opportunity “to protect them before they are even born.”

She explains: “Nobody knows what the future holds, so if we can give our baby a little safety, we will do it, we will go out of our way just to know that we are protecting our little precious baby, the most precious thing that God can give us.”

Cord blood, which can be easily extracted from the umbilical cord after a baby’s birth, is a rich source of stem cells. These are highly adaptive cells that have the potential to be used in life-changing treatments for illnesses and conditions such as leukaemia, traumatic brain disorder and sickle cell disease. Clinical trials taking place around the world every day are uncovering new ways that stem cells can be used in treatments, including a recent successful trial demonstrating that they are effective in treating the symptoms of severe Covid-19.

Parents may choose to store these cells privately as they may be a perfect match if your baby, their siblings or parents require treatments using stem cells in future.

After discovering that none of her closest friends and not even her husband, Paul Pogba, had heard about cord blood stem cell storage, Zulay has chosen to open up about her births and storing her sons’ cord blood, despite usually keeping her pregnancies and family life private.

Zulay found out about stem cell storage when in America with her sister who chose to store her first baby’s cord blood. “This is something that I want to do when I have my baby,” Zulay said at the time.

“And I did,” she states. “Now with our second son, we did it again.”

The number of new parents in the UK who have privately stored their stem cells derived from their baby’s cord blood has risen dramatically over recent years, from 10,676 in 2014 to 15,078 in 2018. Nevertheless, many people are still unaware of this service and the huge benefits it can have not only for the child, but for that child’s siblings and family who may also be able to use the stem cells for treatments.

Stem cell storage is for everyone; Zulay explains that she is speaking out on behalf of “every mummy, every daddy, to raise awareness about such a delicate subject.” She finishes, “I just wanted to share this information with you and I hope this was very useful. I hope you keep this in your mind and you are aware of it.”