Retired NBA star Julius Erving was best known through his career as Dr. J, a nickname that originated in high school. But few know that the Basketball Hall of Famer is also a proud supporter of the cord blood bank and encourages continuous research in the therapy of cells from cord blood stem.
Erving played most of his NBA career with the Philadelphia 76ers, and quickly became known as one of the team leaders. Confident, opinionated, and well known for the slam dunk Dr. J built a reputation as one of the most respected team leaders in the league.
After retiring from the NBA, Erving became philanthropically involved in awareness building for cord blood banks. Erving went to Congress in 2005 when he lobbied the politicians to allow research on stem cells from umbilical cord blood.
Erving works with partners of US national marrow donor program, and recently distributed autographed basketballs to mothers who chose to bank cord blood of their baby. During the outreach event, Dr. J spoke about his meeting with the US government.
"We had a chance to get to Congress and the Senate and at that time there was a lot of controversy surrounding stem cell regeneration, and I think the bill on stem cells been implemented as one package. so I think our team to go there, we managed to convince them that it was to be presented separately. "
Erving continue to stay involved in the National Programme Marrow Donor. He hopes to continue to inform the public about the benefits of cord blood cells from stem and convince the government to support research into potential medical therapy.