Breastmilk Donor Remembers One Daughter and Honors Another

Crystal, Zack and Rielle Crystal, a donor mom for Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas, included a touching and heartfelt note in her recent shipment of breastmilk. Many parents find healing in donation after the death of a baby. By giving life-saving donor milk to NICU babies, Crystal remembers her premature daughter, Ripley (pictured above) and honors Ripley's sister, Rielle (pictured right). We wanted to share her letter, in her own words: 

To the staff of Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas, I wanted to say thank you for all you do and felt the need to share my story. I just shipped a large supply of donor breastmilk to the milk bank. I know it will help many babies and that means so much to me because I had a NICU baby. Her name was Ripley Grace. She was born at 28 weeks and weighed a little over 3 pounds. My husband and I lived in the NICU for 2 days and saw firsthand how important breastmilk is to the babies there. 

$2500 of merchandise was given to NICU families at UF Health Jacksonville Shands. Unfortunately, our little Ripley passed after 2 days. However, she changed our lives forever. We started fundraising for UF Health Jacksonville Shands NICU and for March for Babies/March of Dimes in her honor. We have now raised over $8,000. Ripley’s story has touched so many lives. 

A year later, we were blessed with the birth of little Rielle. The milk I just donated came from her supply that I saved day and night. I am beyond happy to share it with NICU babies in honor of her and in memory of her big sister. Thanks again for all you do. All our love, Crystal, Zach, Ripley and Rielle 

 

  For more information about Mothers' Milk Bank of North Texas or about how to become a donor, please visit our website.