Huntsville Milk Is the Miracle a California Baby Needs

by Glenni Lorick, IBCLC

Omari was born with Trisomy 13.  His parents learned of his diagnosis when he was born. Although his mother wanted to breastfeed, he was unable to latch. She pumped, but she was under so much stress that she just couldn't produce the milk he needed, and formula simply didn't work well for him. In an effort to keep him on the life-saving breastmilk that he so desperately needed, his mother contacted her local milk bank in California where she lives. They wanted $700 a week to supply his breastmilk needs. So she turned to local Facebook groups seeking milk donations for him, but came up dry.

Lauren and her son on the plane

 Her nephew is married to Lauren Morgan who lives in Harvest and is part of the Huntsville Mommy Milk Meetup page on Facebook. Lauren put out an appeal in that group, and  received an overwhelming response from local moms here in the Huntsville area.

She actually had several mothers donate milk for Omari. The first mom was Sarah Bailey. Lauren says, "She has been donating about every 2 weeks for a few months now. She is amazing! She asks about Omari and loves him!" The second mom, Meredith Ennis has donated a couple of times. According to Lauren, "She is so sweet and never asks for anything in return!" The third mom to donate was Crystelyn Wharton who donated massive amounts of milk at one time, never asking anything in return. The fourth mom was Meagan Hormel Garrett who had a 5 day old baby so she had "The good stuff! She donated about 50 ounces of precious milk!" Lauren adds, "She met me from Decatur at Bridgestreet and never asked for anything in return." Finally, Lauren has been donating milk as well.

Milk packed and ready to go to Omari!

Recently Lauren traveled to California to visit the family there, and she took 180 lbs. of breastmilk with her! She had the milk separated into 5 cooler bags each weighing about 35 lbs. They flew on Southwest, and were able to count the coolers as checked luggage. The guy checking in the milk said, "Wow! This is all milk?" Lauren replied that it was. He asked her is she was selling it, and she explained that it was all being donated to the sick baby of a family member. He thought that was awesome and mentioned it to another worker who said, "You're amazing for doing that!" The milk traveled with them from Nashville to Los Angeles with no problems whatsoever. When they arrived at Lauren's aunts house, the milk was still frozen and ready for Omari to use. She estimates that this milk will last him 3 or 4 months, at least through his first birthday. 

We have such an amazing community of mamas here in Huntsville, and I feel especially thankful that our Huntsville moms have given so generously to help Omari. Thank you to each of you for your desire to help a little boy who lives across the continent!