Moms Donate Breast Milk to Baby After Mother's Sudden Death

Liz Marquez. Photo by Facebook/Liz Marquez

When 32-year old Liz Marquez of Diamond Bar, California suffered a sudden heart attack on December 7th and died ten days later, she left behind a grieving husband named Brian (a labor and delivery nurse) and five beautiful children, including five-month-old Brixton who was born premature at 32 weeks. Because Brixton was left with no breast milk (an idea that would have devastated his mother), Marquez’s tight-knit Facebook parenting group immediately sprung into action.

Spearheaded by Marquez’s friend and fellow group member Kristina Pulistar, 29, moms in the group began donating breast milk for Brixton. “When Liz died I immediately thought how hard her loss would hit Brixton,” Pulistar, tells Yahoo Parenting. “I didn’t want him to have the added stress of transitioning to a bottle and formula.”

So far, Milk for Brixton is meeting the adorable infant’s 50-ounce a day needs. Once word began to spread on Facebook, women in the Los Angeles area began donating in droves. So far, 3,000 ounces from 30 donors were pumped, collected, and stored in 15 different host homes. A team of five volunteers pick up milk from the donors and drive it to the Marquez house. “I’ve had to turn people away from all around the world as we only want milk from people we know for health reasons and to keep it simple,” says Pulistar. “I think community is so important when you’re a parent. There’s too much bashing and fighting going on online. We have to bring it back to where we’re sticking together as one, like a village.”

Marquez, who donated her lungs, kidneys, liver and heart upon her death, would likely agree.

Want to help? A GoFundMe page titled Deep Freezer for Milk for Brixton has been established specifically to purchase a freezer to store breast milk and pay for gas for the drivers (as of Thursday, $730 has been raised). Or, donate baby supplies to the Marquez family by emailing: [email protected]