Born with cancer; given a few months to live – Greece

‘Our little girl, who was born with a very rare form of brain cancer, started chemotherapy before she was one month old. Her doctors thought she would only live for a few months so we wanted to try our best to save her life’.

Reading this brings shivers to your heart but in her next sentences this little girl’s mother explains that she received donor milk for almost a year and a half. Her own milk supply had been so affected by the psychological pressures, especially during the various surgeries that their child needed, that it stopped several times. This, even though she had breastfed all of her other 3 children. Her youngest child received a combination of surgery, traditional cancer treatments, and complementary therapies and her sole diet for 18months was human milk which included approximately 150mls a day of donor milk. 

Twice a week, the father collected the donor milk from the Elena Venizelou Hospital in Athens and took it to the specialist oncology hospital where his daughter was being treated. His wife adds that the nurses at the maternity hospital where the milk bank is situated were always very supportive. They won’t forget their help which they found invaluable. Almost six years later the mother is convinced that without it, her little girl would not be alive today.