What would you do if you knew there was a treasure that could save thousands of lives?

It begins with the birth of a baby, each one born with a rich collection of cells that doctors can now use to fight devastating diseases.

So why is this treasure routinely thrown away?

Erica Jones has just given birth to a son, Brandon.

With every new life, comes a precious resource to save lives.

Umbilical cord blood contains precious stem cells that can treat blood cancers, leukemia, sickle cell anemia and about 60 other diseases.

But the sad reality is, only a tiny fraction of mothers donate their cord blood.

"The vast majority of women delivering babies in the United States still are not aware of this possibility, and it is extremely frustrating," stated Dr. Elizabeth Shpall, of the Anderson Cancer Center.

17-year-old Jesus Santoyo was diagnosed with leukemia four years ago.

He will never know who saved his life with a cord blood donation.

"Whatever I go into, I know I want to make a difference in other people's lives because they've made a difference in mine," said Santoyo.

As many as 10,000 Americans each year could benefit from donated cord blood.

But there is such a shortage that many die waiting.

Most expectant mothers who think about umbilical cord blood, think about storing it privately, paying thousands of dollars for a company to collect and save it for their child's possible use later in life.

The American Medical Association suggests that is a waste of money.

"The chances that a person would use their own cord blood to help that child are somewhere between one in 20,000, all the way up to one in 200,000," explained Dr. Joanne Kurtzenberg, with Duke University's Medical School.

But donating cord blood, which doesn't cost a family anything, allowing blood banks to collect and store it for anyone to use, now that, say doctors, has real value.

"It's really a no-brainer," said Dr. Kurtzenberg.

"It's a substance that's biologically active. It has no real other application and it can save a life."

Because the U.S. is so ethnically diverse, doctors figure they need about 250,000 cord blood donations to cover everyone in need.

But that requires more federal money to collect, test and store the cord blood.

And greater public awareness about the need is also important.

Not that women need much convincing.

One survey found that 95-percent of new mothers said they would have donated their cord blood if only someone had asked.