Donor spotlight: Whitney’s story

Whitney and her partner were not sure whether they would be able to get pregnant on their own, so they started their family through adoption. Today, the couple has four children, and their two youngest were born through in vitro fertilization (IVF). Because of her own fertility journey, Whitney wanted to help others. She felt called to support people who were having a hard time with fertility struggles, just as she did. Eventually, her path led her to the Rogers Hixon Ontario Human Milk Bank.

“I wasn’t sure if I would be able to have a family on my own, and when I finally could, I wanted to help others,” says Whitney.

“[Surrogacy] was an incredible process, and I’m thankful that a healthy baby boy was born,” she says. “I knew the couple would be staying in Canada for the first few weeks after their baby’s birth, so I began pumping milk when he was born.”

Whitney knew that human milk was good for babies, so at first she pumped only for the baby boy. Over the next few weeks, her freezer filled up with bags of extra milk. This made her think about donating some of it to a milk bank. Even after the baby and his family left Canada, Whitney kept pumping milk so she could donate.

“I had a good breastfeeding journey with my two youngest kids, so I thought about how important it would be, not only through the surrogacy, but in any other way I could try to help others.”

Whitney’s family and friends have helped her balance daily life with her milk donation.

“Pumping takes a lot of effort on my part, but it also definitely takes a lot of support from family and friends to go through this process.”

Driven by a strong need to give back to her community, Whitney has continued to donate her milk to the Milk Bank in the months following her surrogacy. Reminders, pumping tips and advice on how to apply have made her donation experience smooth.

“Shipping milk is a bit of a process, but everyone was so helpful in laying out the directions. It was a lot easier than I anticipated. Everything was very streamlined and easy to work with.”

Donor milk can help save the lives of hospitalized babies and reduce their risk of serious illness. Thank you, Whitney, for your generous gift of milk, which gives these babies a better chance to grow healthy and strong.