When her obstetrician advised Amy Anderson to bind her chest, Amy decided she wanted to pump the milk that began engorging her breasts. She spent 8 months pumping 96 gallons only to donate every last drop. This milk was originally intended for her son Bryson. Bryson died in utero at 20 weeks.
When Anderson was 15 weeks pregnant, doctors told Anderson and her husband, Bryan, that Bryson had a lower urinary tract obstruction (LUTO). On Oct. 28, 2010, the Andersons were told that Bryson died; he was delivered a couple of days later.
After she delivered Bryson, Anderson made the conscious choice to pump regularly as a way of coping with Bryson’s death. Bryson died in utero at 20 weeks. Anderson felt that the milk she expressed was “Bryson’s life purpose;” Anderson wanted to embrace this.
While she expressed her milk, she looked at ultra-sound pictures of Byrson, finding comfort while she pumped and thought of him. She stated,
“That was my time to unwind and be with my angel…[i]t helped me work through my grief.
Anderson received support from her husband and her family. Her only hurdle came from her job.
When she returned to work, her employer told her that she could not take the necessary breaks to pump because she did not fall under the definition of nursing mothers under the Break Time for Nursing Mothers.
Instead of adhering to her employer’s demands, she quit her job. Anderson stated,
“It doesn’t matter whether or not you now have a baby to hold. I was a lactating woman with physical needs.”
As a result, Anderson made the decision to “fight the terminology of the law to be formally inclusive of all lactating women.”
Fortunately, Anderson has received support from her state legislator in Maine.
After 8 months of breastfeeding, Anderson donated her 96 gallons of milk to five different milk banks. She donated all this milk to honor her son, Bryson. The amount she donated will result in approximately 30,000 feedings. Anderson hopes her milk will help babies who suffer from diseases such as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). NEC is
“a painful bowel disease that causes parts of the intestines to die and is the second leading cause of death for premature babies. The use of human milk can lower risk of NEC by 79 percent.“
After donating all her milk, Anderson began volunteering at Mother’s Milk Bank Northwest. She is also earning a breastfeeding consultant certification.
What Anderson did was set an amazing example of helping to save lives by doing something so many take for granted, by simply expressing milk her body makes.
I am personally in complete awe of this woman. As a mother, whose eldest child did not latch on, I understand how time consuming and uncomfortable expressing milk can be. I did this for approximately the same time as Anderson did, but my milk only fed my child. Anderson’s milk, that was intended for Bryson, reached so many more children. Such a selfless and loving act by a woman who had every reason to be selfish in her time of grief.
Featured image by Bart Everson under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.
