Over the last nine years, I estimate my total donation numbers to be over
350,000 ounces. I would not wish this condition on my worst enemy. It is... it is
not fun. This is what I would pump in a day. That's a lot of milk. It's like the
best feeling ever and it lasts for only minutes before my body starts making
milk again. Nobody wants to live like this. Like nobody wants to live like this
at all. How many individual babies have benefited from my milk? That is, first of
all, impossible to know. The milk bank I donated to, they specifically take
donated breast milk and create a breast milk product that is for preemies and
micro preemies. So babies that have just reached that viability and something has
happened where they were born far too early. They are not developed enough at
all to be able to tolerate a man-made substance formula. It's too hard on their
digestive system. They don't thrive. They don't survive. So this breast milk
product is essentially a prescription. It is literally saving their lives. My body
creates a lot of the hormone called prolactin and that is what drives milk
production. So in the morning, all of my pump sessions are my largest and usually
when I start pumping you might be able to see that the milk looks a little blue
and this is what's called four milk. It's the milk that comes out first. It's
usually higher in sugar and then later during a pumping session more of the
hind milk will come out and that's the fattier, it's kind of fattier portion of
the milk and I use a pitcher to mix all of the milk together so that it all has
the same nutrients, the same makeup. Hyperlactation syndrome is technically a disability and I feel like we had to adapt just as anyone else would with any
disability. First of all, everything was new to me so everything was a learning
curve, everything was a struggle, everything was painful. I think that it
has not only affected me but it has affected my family as well especially in
the beginning when we couldn't go anywhere, we couldn't do anything. I
always had to stick to this pump schedule and I always had to be home to
do it but over the years and of course with the new technology that I am
involved in I've been able to regain a lot of that freedom and I really try not
to be held back. This is the little workhorse that allows me to live my life
with this condition of hyperlactation. This little guy has given me my freedom
back, the ability to do anything while pumping, be as mobile as I want while
pumping instead of being glued to an outlet or a chair. Every weekday morning
I drive my girls to school and it is maybe about a 30-minute round-trip drive
so it's perfect for a pumping session. The standards that are put in place to be
able to donate to our most vulnerable humans are very high, the standards are
incredibly high and for very good reason. So every day I have to get all of my
milk together that I have pumped and I need to mix it all because it separates
the fat, rises to the top and the heavier water or the for milk part of
the breast milk settles to the bottom. So I mix it and then I start to like package
the milk or portion it out before I make what I call a milk brick which is 14
bags of milk inside a gallon Ziploc bag. It's 6 ounces per bag so it's an 84
ounce brick. I never let any breast milk go to waste it's all used or donated. So
this milk right here is very special. After giving birth for a very short
amount of time your body creates what's called colostrum. So this very I would
call like limited edition colostrum is what I can send to recipients with
brand spanking new babies. This would be a normal amount for a mom to pump or
express after giving birth. My body after giving birth produced this amount. I work
with a lot of recipients that their child has been given that label failure
to thrive. Being able to turn that around and that label removed in so many
different stories has just been everything to me and why I can continue
doing what I do. Elizabeth has been a huge blessing to our family. It was
during COVID and my milk could not come in yet in the hospital and they were
gonna send us home with formula and we really wanted to breastfeed him. She
dropped everything and came to our house and sat for a couple of hours with us
taught me how to pump properly. Unfortunately my milk never fully came
in so we just continue with the donor milk from her. I can't you know imagine
raising our boys without her help of donor milk. I definitely respect and
acknowledge the sacrifice that Elizabeth and her family makes on a daily basis
and we sincerely appreciate all that she does and we're really honored to know
her. Will I ever stop? Yes. I don't think that this is sustainable. I think that
the physical toll, the mental toll, over time it continues to stack up and nobody
wants to live like this. Like nobody wants to live like this at all. There are
medications available to combat the prolactin hormone. These medications do come with some pretty serious side effects. Another option that I have is
potentially looking into a double mastectomy to remove all of the glandular tissue that is producing breast milk. I think right now my current
goals are to make sure that my son has enough breast milk and then from there I
think the most promising option for me would be to get a double mastectomy. My
wife Elizabeth, what she does with her donations and milk production is
something that's very it's very important towards you know reaching a certain goal and helping children. She puts a lot of effort and love into it so
it's something that I completely and fully support of her. My record only takes
into account what I've donated to a milk bank and not all of the other donations
that have taken place locally or worldwide to recipients. I am really
hopeful that breaking this record and kind of sharing my story will normalize
milk sharing