in expressing breastmilk for my mother who has cancer

[weeamoomoo]

after watching C4 programme last week i thought i'd never forgive myself if i DIDNT do it. but all i know is from that programme. anyone else know anything about it?
she had her first lot today.

y'know when my aunt was being treated for cancer, she needed to have a certain white blood cell count before procedure x or y but was struggling to keep food in because of other necessary drugs. it makes me wonder that if bm was available to more cancer patients their immune system would rebuild so much more quickly because bm is so easily digested + it contains immune boosting antibodies.

when i was expressing at work for my dd, i had a real urge to offer my bm to a colleague's dd (and I did offer it - she was touched but didn't accept it.) who is/was currently being treated for childhood leukemia.

Dr. June Meymand runs a cancer center and says breast milk protects her patients' healthy cells, while killing the cancer at same time.

amazing OP - good luck.

i offered frozen breastmilk to friend (and whole family had it) with conjunctivitus, and it was refused. i used it for this use for all my children and myself and the infection cleared up within 24 hours.

i would love to still be able to BF, so that i could still use it as a medicine!

again best wishes to your family

So sorry to hear about your mum

DH had NHL and was not given a good prognosis (max. of 6 years if he had 2 lots of CHOP 3 years apart, but after that there would be nothing they could do).

He was able to get on a trial of Bexxar at Barts and 11 years on is still in complete remission. There were some side effects (sterility, lowered immunity - he got shingles very badly - had I known about breastmilk then I might have asked his sister for some!) but he's still here.

I'm sure you and yours will have already looked into everything, and of course not all lymphomas are equal (his was a particularly nasty type) but we found that these trials aren't publicised or well known - DH only got onto it because he asked his specialist at the local hospital and then kept on about it. May be worth investigating?

Anyway, fingers crossed and many prayers for your mum - I think you're doing an amazing thing for her

weeamoomoo

What a beautiful thing to offer to do for your mum.

I wish her and you all the best.

foxytocin No I dont work for formula company and Yes I am a breast feeder too!

Oh I hope it really helps!

lilymolly- Well I am a nurse. I have been 'medically trained' I have a lot of experience. I also have a lot of compassion. If a patient of mine wanted to try an alternative therapy or some sort, as long as they were also continuing with the conventional course of treatment, i would support it, whole heartedly, without judgment. That is part of my role as a nurse.

SO, you are medically trained yes? how much of the research have you actually read, about this area? Have you read the studies that are taking place around the use of breast milk in cancer treatment? DO you actually know better than the specialists who are accepting and taking the anecdotal evidence.

What harm can it do, to just try it. If you are medically trained and have experience of treating or nursing or interacting with patients and families who are trying to deal with the most earth shattering diagnoses you can have. You will know what its like to have their world turned upside down ad changed forever in sentence containing 4 words.

You will also understand if you are medically trained, how families in the situation I've described, will do anything, will try anything if there is eve an ounce of possibility that it will help.

You will also know that as soon as you take away their hope, they feel like the battle is already lost.

You might not be a heatless cow, but you certainly came across as just that.

You are also completely wrong. THere is research going on i this area. There are medical professionals who do think it's an area worth exploring. I come back to my point again of, what harm can it do?

weeamoomoo, I've not heard of this before (bm & cancer) and I think it's facinating.

Your doing a lovely thing for your mum.

Thoughts with you and your family.

Hope it helps. All the very best to you and your mother.

lilymolly how interesting you saw that man on the breastmilk programme and thought oh what a load of rubbish..cos you haven't seen anything about it in your line of work.

i on the other hand saw it and thought oh how interesting i'd like to know more about that.

sorry lilymolly, I was confused, you sell medical devices I presume to HCPs, no?

i wasn't questioning your feeding method by asking if you worked for a formula company. but i'm happy to hear that your bf experience has been a success.

Go ahead, what harm can it do? Remember when my DD2 was a few weeks old my DD1 wanted to taste breastmilk again so i expressed some and gave it to DD1 in a cup and she took one sip and burst out crying!
She said it tasted YUCK! I had a taste and it was horrible though [shock}

foxytocin- you asked if I worked for a formula company and the answer is no.
I sell to orthopaedic surgeons and any of my products used to help patients regain a return to normal activities have to be proven to work, as did any drugs I used to sell to doctors.
I also have a degree in physiology where again everything had to be proven- so I guess what I am saying is that I have been trained to question the efficacy of things.

I guess my instinct for what harm it could do- is to give false hope to the OP which I am not sure is a good thing.But if she is aware of all of this then good on her.

If it where my mother- I would be contacting the top specialists in the world and asking if they are conducting any trials on any ,as yet, unproven/unlicensed new drugs/treatment that just may help the patient or at worst will do no harm.
Presumably if Breast milk has been shown to have a beneficial link then these already may be occuring and I would make enquiries into this.

TBH I am moving away from this thread now.
I simply gave my opionion and have been called heartless cow.

Much love, sympathy and best wishes to OP mother, and I really really hope the breast milk helps.

I think that (IIRC from C4 programme) if a health insurance company is prepared to pay for someone to buy bm to drink to help keep cancer at bay (if that is a correct term?) then there must be something in it. I think the man on the programme was actually drinking quite a small amount infrequently wasn't he?

YANBU, I would to this for anybody I knew. Out of interest, do you think freezing the milk would reduce its 'potency' for doing whatever it might do?

you make me smile lilymolly - you say that breastmilk could give false hope and then suggest that instead that go to the doctors and see if...

they are conducting any trials on any ,as yet, unproven/unlicensed new drugs/treatment

: )

to fourarms - yes, freezing with harm some of the good effects of BM, as breastmilk is a living material.

honestly, BM is amazing stuff and the scientists still have lots more to find out about it.

did you know that BM changes it's composition according to day, night, food eaten, baby's need, infection/diseases local to mother, hunger of baby, baby's age. and you also have fore (thirst quenching) and hind milk (thicker, creamer, more satisfying)?

amazing stuff.

wish it was about before i lost my husband we,d of tried it for sure

hi guys,
laptop ran out of charge last night and anyway i was so knacked i had to go to bed.

it is so lovely to see all your messages of support!

shesellsseashells- def. say to your sil re your nephew. why not broach it by talking about the programme?

lovecat- thats very interesting. my mum did hear about recent drug trials but was told her nhl was too advanced to get the drug. i dunno if it was the same one so i will find out.

lillymolly- i was going to maintain a dignified silence ha ha!
BUT. i am aware this is not perfect topic for thread, but lets face it, its where i thought it would get most viewers, and as i knew the chances of anyone having personal experience was pretty slim i wanted to maximise my audience.
so sorry and wont do it again! (fingers crossed behind back...)

Lilymolly
I apologise for calling you a heartless cow, I didn't actually mean to infer that you were ,just that you were coming across that way, but I guess there's not much difference. I do apologise. It is not my usual form, at all.

The OP struck a chord with me, and I feel that anyone in this situation, should do anyhting and every thing they think possible, and indeed can, to help. So long as they are also followig medical advise, which is sounds that they are.

I feel they should also be supported in such actions, without judgment.

However, I do apologise. Honestly

I think you're having a pop at lillymolly unnecessarily.

I would say why not what harm can it do?

My BM is not yuck I tried some tonight to make sure it was OK for DD3 and it tasted quite nice very very sweet and creamy.

if bf helps prevents babies and children getting cancer it must do some good in helping patients with cancer surely.
and if it can kill 40 different types of cancer cells in test tubes is farking good shit imo

I'm not having a pop. I've just apologised, sincerely. I felt her 1st post was unnecessarily harsh. Especially under the circumstances. Just my opinion. I was not alone in that opinion.
However, I felt bad at using her own comment against her. I am sorry.

Didn't mean you alone, susie. A few of you jumped on her. I thought it was nice of you to apologise though