At 07:58 PM 4/21/03, you wrote:
>I'm following up on the newspaper article someone posted about.  It was
>an obituary for a very brain damaged 4 year old girl who had existed on
>her mother's and donor EBM from a milk bank.  The parents are working at
>paying for the donor milk used over their daughter's short life.  One of
>my colleagues has suggested going to our state LC organization to see if
>they would contribute to the bill owed.  Anyone else a member of their
>state LC organization that might be willing to do the same?
Pat, thank you for your suggestion. I will propose it at our May meeting of
our association. If any of you haven't read the story I believe that you
will find it inspiring. It's strange that I didn't think of a WALC donation
myself.

I worked with this family--first with their son who is 7, then with the
mother as she pumped and dealt with the HCPs who were working with her
baby. [They learned a lot.] Mom worked so hard to keep her milk supply
ample for her little one.  While teaching full time, she pumped all of
Meghan's milk for "26 months and 4 days."  She was taking More Milk and
domperidone for the last year of her production, but her breasts just
couldn't keep it all up.

Every time her supply dropped and she had to supplement with Neocate or
such, Meghan would get sick.  Then with human milk again, she recovered
quickly. The doctors *know* that human milk was what kept her alive beyond
the one month that was expected.

When she died on April 11 there were 6 bags of frozen milk from the Denver
milk bank. The mom asked at the funeral if I knew "any little girl" who
needed it. I didn't at that time but just today a mother called who has a
18 month old who has had many surguries and challenges since birth.  She
had a liver transplant and when she takes medicine for infections her body
begins to reject the transplant.  As we talked she said that she so wished
that she had been able to keep making milk for her as she did so much
better on breastmilk.

Well, I was happy to let her know of the milk that had been offered.  The
families will be meeting this week to make the transfer.

I am fortunate to meet these heroic families who pour out such love on
their little ones. And they always say that their own rewards and joy are
boundless.

Jean Schrank sent the post about the newspaper article. You can find it at:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/nobits/apr03/133808.asp

Pat Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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