Monica Cunningham, Civ USAF AFMC AFLCMC/WKDBC
Hometown: Oklahoma City, OK
The Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas recently posted a photo of us on Facebook. My husband Vance and I were dropping off 1,437 ounces of milk at Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City. We made that drop-off on my youngest son’s 1st Birthday. Eli was fed breastmilk exclusively for one year, and together as a family, we celebrated donating his extra milk to the milk bank to help babies in the NICU.
I breastfed all three of my children for at least a year and am proud to share that to date I’ve donated over 27 GALLONS of breastmilk to the milk bank. I'm quite proud and grateful that Team Cunningham has done so well. I say team because my family is the team that has helped make my donation of ‘liquid gold’ possible.
Eli’s oldest sister, Nicolette, is now 16 years old, excelling in school at the top of her class. Lainie is now 11 years old. She is profoundly deaf and began the first several weeks of life in a hospital NICU. She has endured more than 15 surgeries in her short life. Lainie has fought hard and is now doing so well.
While she was in the NICU, I witnessed babies struggling to survive. I then vowed that I would find a way to help. This is what prompted me to donate my breastmilk to the milk bank. As I shared, Eli just turned 1 year old a few weeks ago. He has brought so much joy into our lives and donating his milk helps us save the tiniest of lives.