Controversial Baby Blood Infusion “Game Changer” for College Football
FANSVILLE— Adversity. The Georgia Bulldogs are no stranger to it. Just three games ago, en route to a 37–20 victory over Vanderbilt, their star receiver Ladd McConkey went down with a broken pelvis.
It’s an injury that would ordinarily sideline a player for a season or more. But the Bulldogs’ medical staff had a trick play up their sleeves: fetal blood infusion.
“We have experimented with the umbilical cord,” Smart said after Georgia’s 52–17 win over Ole Miss. “We experimented with the stem cells from that. But it seems like fetal blood just works better. We proved that tonight.”
Indeed, they did. McConkey, after missing only 20 days of practice, was able to take the field in tonight’s matchup. Smart said he has “no doubt” that injections of platelet-rich fetal blood were “a game-changer” for McConkey’s coccyx.
The therapy requires one to three unborn babies. The blood is drawn from the donors in utero, spun in a centrifuge, then injected directly into the site of the injury. When asked how much blood the procedure demanded, Coach Smart said, “All of it.”
“Sometimes winning ain’t pretty. At the end of the day, there’s a fork in the road. You can go out there and execute, or you can spend your life wondering what might have been…. He’s the best receiver in the country.”
Before shattering his coccyx, McConkey led the Bulldogs with 41 receptions and four touchdowns. His main impact in the Dawgs’ demolition of the Ole Miss Rebels was an eight-yard reception in the end zone.
But Rebels’ coach Lane Kiffin, perhaps stung by the blowout victory, has become one of the most vocal opponents of fetal blood infusions.
“It costs 11 million dollars for one cycle [of the therapy],” Kiffin said. “How are any but the wealthiest programs supposed to afford these [fetuses]?”
Kiffin is not alone in his reservations. The Georgia Supreme court recently passed the LIFE Act, which prohibits all abortions after the detection of the fetal heartbeat. Some lawmakers are questioning whether babies in the third trimester should be harvested for the sake of sport.
“I’m a football coach,” Smart said, “not a lawyer. All I know is, nothing happened on Georgia soil. He got the infusions here in Fansville.”
Fansville, Coach Smart explained, is technically a sovereign nation owned by Dr. Pepper. Though it exists within the borders of the United States, Fansville is completely outside U.S jurisdiction. “Dr. Pepper handles all that,” Smart said.
Smart insisted abortion was “a completely different thing. I hold life to the utmost respect. I hold football to the utmost respect. I trust my guys, I trust my staff. I trust Dr. Pepper to go in there and execute.”
On December 30th, Georgia will face the Florida State Seminoles in the Orange Bowl. Thanks to Dr. Pepper, and to McConkey’s incredible work ethic, the star receiver is expected to play the full four quarters.
“His recovery is a miracle,” Coach Smart said. “You can thank the doctors all you want, but it’s in God’s hands. Through him all things are possible. Go Dawgs.”
