Iwork with Anna on a medical/surgical unit. Both Anna and I have had babies in the recent past, although mine is older.
My baby is a special-needs little guy. He developed generalized seizures when he was only 5 ½ months old. In 2016, he had a seizure every day of his life, with the average length lasting 30 minutes or more. The doctors tried anti-epileptic drugs (AED's), and a strict dietary treatment called the Ketogenic diet, which is strict in no sugars and changes the energy fueling the brain. At that point, the doctors told me I could no longer give my breast milk to my baby, and that I should give up breastfeeding altogether.
Breastfeeding has always been so important to me. I created a lactation room for employees at Banner University Medical Center-Phoenix, and I have donated my excess breast milk to the Mother's Milk Bank in Denver, Colorado, with my other two babies. So, it was very devastating to me when the neurologist told me I couldn't give my son my own breast milk.
I continued to pump my breast milk for the next year, and ended up donating almost all of it. Once my son failed on the Ketogenic diet, they said I could give my breast milk back to him again. It was such a joyous feeling to be able to feed him again, even though the seizures didn't allow him to latch on to the breast.
Once my body stopped making breast milk, I was very sad. I want to give his brain the best chance of developing, since the seizures had caused Atrophy of the whole brain matter, and he is so far behind developmentally.
That is where Anna came in. She had heard I had donated my breast milk, and wanted to know more information about how to become a breast milk donor. I gave her the information, and explained the process of breast milk donation. Most people, even in the healthcare setting, don't know that milk donation follows very strict guidelines, much as when you donate blood products. It is tested and screened and is a very safe process.
When Anna heard that my own baby needed breast milk, but that my body was unable to produce it any longer, she offered to give me her excess breast milk instead of shipping it off to the milk bank donor center.
It is such a beautiful thing, to have giving and caring come full-circle.Here I had donated so much of my milk, and now was in need. And here was the marvelous Anna, giving to me and my baby. We have used Anna's donated milk forhim over the past 5 months. It has been a primary source of nutrition for him. During that time, his seizures have stopped, and he is always amazing his doctors with his development and progress.
The scientific community is learning more and more about the wonders of human breast milk, and the benefits. It is actually a very complex and amazing form of nutrition.
Ican't express my own, my husband's, and our little boy's gratitude for Anna giving this gift to us. It is a priceless, caring, compassionate gift. It can potentially change and alter the development and progress of this sweet little boy for the rest of his life.
The DAISY award is to recognize nurses who are compassionate. Anna is one of the most compassionate, loving, caring people I know. She is elevating nursing by giving back to one of her own in the nursing profession, and of helping a little boy in the community.
Anna has given the gift of life through her donation of life-saving breast milk. Thank you, Anna. You are an angel.