Catherine Tyldesley reveals she's stored her baby daughter's stem cells to 'protect her future'.
The Coronation Street star, 38, gave birth to Iris in April and has now spoken about her birth and her decision to use the umbilical cord to store her daughter's stem cells.
Taking to Instagram, Catherine shared a picture of herself in labour, she said: "When you find out you’re having a baby there are so many things to consider, from your pregnancy journey to your birth plan.
"There are lots of new things to learn along the way and with so much information available it can become a little overwhelming. However, one of the most important things to us was being able to protect Iris’s future as much as possible.
"After some research we came across @smartcellsofficial and learned that the baby’s umbilical cord is a unique source of stem cells and these cord blood stem cells are able to treat and cure over 80 conditions."
Stem cells can renew themselves and be used in transplants for patients with cancers including leukaemia and lymphoma.
Catherine pointed out that while no parent wants to imagine the worst case scenario, she felt 'comforted' to know she had the cells to use if necessary.
She explained: "We decided to use @smartcellsofficial to store our baby’s stem cells. The process was super easy and Smart Cells organised everything!
"We are so pleased we found out about this when we did. No parent wants to imagine needing to use them but it’s comforting to know they’re stored if we ever need them in the future."
The actress' post was met with a flurry of support from her fans with several saying they had done the procedure themselves.
One fan replied saying their child's stem cells had been used to help another family.
They wrote: "Did the same with my sons, received a letter to say the stem cells helped a life, really rewarding."
While another said: "Wish I’d have known this when I had my babies I would of done this with them all."
Catherine and her husband Tom Pitfield are already proud parents to son, Alfie, seven.
When Iris arrived they gushed their family was "complete".
The actress explained to Hello! magazine that she played a character called Iris Moss in the BBC drama Lilies in 2007 and she had “loved it ever since”.
Iris' middle name is Ella - which is a tribute to her husband's late grandmother.
