(WOWT/CNN) - A Nebraska woman has donated more than 17,000 ounces of breast milk to help others.
Demi Frandsen began her donations after losing her son, Leo, who was born two months early, at 10 months on Oct. 22. He had gastroschisis, a birth defect that left him with some organs uncovered by skin.
Frandsen says breast feeding was the one way she felt she could help her son. "With a Q-tip we'd put it in my milk and we'd swab his mouth," she said.
Leo couldn't handle much milk. So she found it in her heart to give to others. She woke herself up every three hours to pump and donated breast milk.
"My final donation was 17,503 ounces...which is like 131 gallons...so a dairy aisle basically," Frandsen said.
She became the hospital’s largest breast milk donor.
The hospital sends milk donations to the Denver Milk Bank, which sterilizes and pasteurizes the milk. Often the milk ends up back at the Children's NICU.
Tammi Martin of Children's Hospital said the milk goes to the babies of mothers who can't provide all the milk their children need.
That was the reason Frandsen kept pushing on. She says she finds comfort knowing that her breast milk was used to help others.
Courtesy WOWT via CNN Newsource