After suffering the loss of two babies, a
mother in California, 25-year-old Ariel Matthews has donated more than 175
pounds of breast milk to help other families. A year ago, on Christmas Day,
Mathews unfortunately had a miscarriage. Filled with grief, she donated 1,000
oz of her breast milk to help other mothers who could not produce breast milk
but wanted their children to have some.
One month after her miscarriage, she
became pregnant again, and was excited about the prospect of having another child
to play with her son 3-year-old son, Noah. | |
| Noah with Ronan
Unfortunately, when she had her third
child, Ronan, he was born with a heart defect and died 11 days later, after
going through surgery to repair it. Sadly he never recovered from it and passed
away.
Devastated, Matthews decided to do something in honor of her son, Ronan. During an interview with People, Matthews explains that she knew based on Ronan's condition that he might not make it but still began to pump.
She said:
"I decided right away
to donate it, because I knew he wasn’t going to make it.”
She set a goal to donate more than the 1,000
ounces she had donated the previous year. But twenty days later, she
had donated 2,300 ounces of breast milk and in total donated in
total 2,810 ounces of breast milk to several families. She was thrilled to
learn that her donation was able to help three other families: two moms who
never had their breast milk come in and one family who had adopted a baby.
In an Instagram post, she wrote:
"After I empty out my
freezer, 2,300 of those ounces will have been officially donated. I defiantly
feel lucky to have been able to help babies stay healthy, and grow. With my two
boys in heaven I have donated a total of 2,810 ounces. I know I donated with
Noah as well, but cannot remember the exact amount".
 
2016 is coming to an end... as it does, try to remember all the
things you are thankful for, instead of just being glad this year is over.
I am so thankful I got to spend another year alive and healthy. I have a beautiful, wonderful, crazy 3 year old, and I get to be his mommy. I am thankful that Noah and I got to experience AFV. What a wonderful thing to happen to us. I am thankful I got to protect Ronan in my womb till it was time for to come. I am thankful I was able to keep myself healthy with Crossfit for Ronan. I am thankful I got to spend 11 days with my precious Ronan. I am even more thankful that my story is spreading light for other women in situations like mine. 2016 may have started out really rough... shoot it even seemed like it was going end all kinds of crazy, but actually it ending quite nicely. I had an extremely wonderful thanksgiving, and even more so Christmas with my family. No matter what happened this year, I am choosing to find the best in everything, or at least choosing to believe that something good that will come. So, I ask you to look back at your whole year, and find that one thing you can be thankful for. I am sure it's there, even if you have to dig a little. Happy New Year's Eve; let's start the new year with our heads held high! #newyear #thankful #loveyourself #inspire #happiness#blessed #love #comeon2017
Breast milk donations help premature and ill babies to
receive the vital nutrients they need to grow.
Source: People Magazine/ April Matthews IG page |
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