Every baby deserves human milk and every grieving parent deserves to heal. I’m paraphrasing words that Kim Updegrove, the Executive Director of the Mothers’ Milk Bank at Austin spoke to me during a conversation we had in the first days that I met her. Those words still echo loudly when I think about the wonderful stories of selfless giving that so many grieving mothers have shared with me over the last few years. It is the story of my wife, my daughter, and the hundreds of donors I have met along my journey, which began the evening of August 8, 2008.
The nurse blamed a faulty monitor and rushed out of the room, but the realization that something was seriously wrong came when the doctor stormed into the room frantically searching for a heartbeat inside of my wife’s tummy. But there wasn’t one to be found. Our daughter, Vivian, just days away from her arrival, had not survived an undetected infection. Our dream of having our third daughter was over in just a few moments.
My wife’s milk came in the day of the funeral and it was her cousin, a physician, who suggested she donate her milk. My wife soon garnered the courage to apply to become a donor and sent her milk to be tested. Over the next year, she donated in excess of 8,000 ounces of human milk and became a huge advocate for a human milk diet for all infants.
One such infant was a baby that my wife got to know and was able to provide human milk to in order to help her with a serious digestive disorder. She continues to see that baby and follow her growth and development. I believe that donating milk was the single most important aspect of her grieving process and helped her to slowly climb out of the despair of losing our daughter.
So impressed by the depth of her story and in search of a film project to start, I decided to write, direct, and produce a short film entitled “Mother’s Milk” which I completed in late 2009. I premiered the film in Houston then took it on a 3-city tour showing it to over 800 people and telling our story. In almost every case, people told me they had no idea that milk banks existed. The story needed a wider audience if it was really going to impact others and save lives.
I began working on a documentary project that has culminated into an award-winning documentary entitled “Prescription Milk”, which I hope will eventually find its way onto national television network because the stories and interviews are so compelling. It includes stories like Kelly Durrant who donated over 100 gallons of milk after losing her daughter. Donations from Kelly, and others, helped babies like the son of Christal Suson, who survived his life-threatening birth defect by receiving human milk. The story also chronicles interviews with leading experts who make milk banking possible to save lives.
Please support Kim Updegrove, her amazing staff in Austin, and all the donor moms in Texas by telling your friends about these stories, making a donation, or volunteering. But most importantly, tell every young future mother you know about the importance of breastfeeding and donating excess human milk for our at-risk babies struggling to survive.
-Kevin West
Prescription Milk trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJFrnUZGndM
The nurse blamed a faulty monitor and rushed out of the room, but the realization that something was seriously wrong came when the doctor stormed into the room frantically searching for a heartbeat inside of my wife’s tummy. But there wasn’t one to be found. Our daughter, Vivian, just days away from her arrival, had not survived an undetected infection. Our dream of having our third daughter was over in just a few moments.
My wife’s milk came in the day of the funeral and it was her cousin, a physician, who suggested she donate her milk. My wife soon garnered the courage to apply to become a donor and sent her milk to be tested. Over the next year, she donated in excess of 8,000 ounces of human milk and became a huge advocate for a human milk diet for all infants.
One such infant was a baby that my wife got to know and was able to provide human milk to in order to help her with a serious digestive disorder. She continues to see that baby and follow her growth and development. I believe that donating milk was the single most important aspect of her grieving process and helped her to slowly climb out of the despair of losing our daughter.
So impressed by the depth of her story and in search of a film project to start, I decided to write, direct, and produce a short film entitled “Mother’s Milk” which I completed in late 2009. I premiered the film in Houston then took it on a 3-city tour showing it to over 800 people and telling our story. In almost every case, people told me they had no idea that milk banks existed. The story needed a wider audience if it was really going to impact others and save lives.
I began working on a documentary project that has culminated into an award-winning documentary entitled “Prescription Milk”, which I hope will eventually find its way onto national television network because the stories and interviews are so compelling. It includes stories like Kelly Durrant who donated over 100 gallons of milk after losing her daughter. Donations from Kelly, and others, helped babies like the son of Christal Suson, who survived his life-threatening birth defect by receiving human milk. The story also chronicles interviews with leading experts who make milk banking possible to save lives.
Please support Kim Updegrove, her amazing staff in Austin, and all the donor moms in Texas by telling your friends about these stories, making a donation, or volunteering. But most importantly, tell every young future mother you know about the importance of breastfeeding and donating excess human milk for our at-risk babies struggling to survive.
-Kevin West
Prescription Milk trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJFrnUZGndM
Thank you for doing this. While I have not had to suffer the loss of a child, my daughter was in the hospital for a week after her birth. I pumped obsessively to make sure she would have enough breastmilk and set myself up for an oversupply. When she came home, she wouldn't nurse, so I kept pumping- finally she and I figured out nursing. The freezer started filling up, and I got close to having to throw the old milk away when someone mentioned milk banks to me. I was able to donate all my excess- and continued to donate until my daughter turned one and I quit pumping. I think all moms should know that milk banks are out there, to donate to if they are able, and to obtain milk if they have a child in desperate need.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post, and for donating. Thank you also for pointing out a challenge for the nonprofit milk banks - that of educating the breastfeeding world about the importance of donating to a nonprofit milk bank that focuses on providing safe pasteurized donor milk to medically fragile infants. Milk is best for most infants, and yet saves lives of those who are born too soon. As a scarce resource, nonprofit milk banks provide donated milk to the most fragile, ensuring a better chance of survival. We owe our ability to dispense nearly 300,000 ounces of milk in 2010 to all of you selfless moms who have figured out that the milk can be safely donated, processed and dispensed based on a medical need rather than an ability to pay. Spread the news - pasteurized donor human milk dispensed from a non-profit milk bank saves lives!
ReplyDelete