Whew, Donna, you really have an interesting, but horribly sad situation you
are dealing with here (mother dying of cancer/sister adopting). The adoptive
mother is not only going to be dealing with the grief over her sister's
death, but also coping with a newborn. She's going to have her hands full.
With any adopting mother, it's important (as you already know, but I wanted
to reiterate) that she focus on the bonding and nursing experience, not the
milk production. The situation is bad enough, without the breast reduction.
To allow this adopting mother to focus on milk production would be wrong,
IMHO, because she needs to grieve and learn to enjoy her new baby, without
the additional pressure of wondering whether she is going to produce milk.
If she uses a supplementing system of some kind and is able to settle back
and enjoy the experience, she may be pleasantly surprised at some point to
discover she has some milk. But if not, she's still had the pleasure of the
baby at the breast.

Leslie Ayre-Jaschke, BEd, IBCLC
Peace River Breastfeeding Clinic
Peace River Alberta, Canada