Just a question, but if that blood in the cord is so valuable, wouldn't it make sense to let it continue to pulse into the baby after birth (what many midwives and natural birth advocates do)?? "Cord blood" is babies blood. It is no different. And it's not collected from the cord, from which, at most, a few cc are collected but from the placenta.
The doctor was shown extracting the blood from the cord. This must be done within literally seconds after the baby is delivered. The cord is clamped and the sample withdrawn. The blood is that which is contained in the cord between the baby and the placenta. Only a few ccs are available and only a few are needed. Looked like they were using a 30cc syringe with a large guage needle that would allow the cells to be collected without damage.
In the case of sickle cell, the patients blood supply was irradiated, I believe they said, prior to the introduction of the new cells.
The technology is amazing.