Daughter gave breast milk to her dying dad to keep him alive
A MOTHER has told how she gave her dying father her breast milk in an effort to prolong his life.
Helen Fitzsimmons expressed the milk for Arthur Eastmond after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given just months to live.
The 40-year-old said she decided to suggest the ‘controversial’ move after finding research that showed breast milk can boost the immune system in adults.
Retired blacksmith Mr Eastmond, 73, and his wife Jean, 69, agreed it was worth a try. He began drinking 2fl oz of breast milk a day, which lowered his rising protein levels ‘almost immediately’.
The grandfather of eight, who initially had the disease in his bone marrow, survived 16 months after also being diagnosed with prostate cancer – a year longer than expected. He died at Easter last year.
Mrs Fitzsimmons, of Cheltenham, said: ‘I truly believe Dad lived an extra 12 months because of the breast milk and that extra time for us was extremely precious.
‘I’m well aware it is controversial… but I’d found a way to help my dad and I would have done anything to help him .
‘ It gave him hope and he lived 16 months after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. I’m sure it was my breast milk that helped.’ To up her father’s daily intake, Mrs Fitzsimmons – who runs a marketing business with her husband Martin – enlisted a friend and a relative to donate their breast milk.
She expressed and froze her milk before taking supplies to her father in South Molton, Devon, each month. ‘I took all the right precautions and made sure everything was sterilised to make sure the milk was not contaminated,’ she added.
Mr Eastmond was diagnosed with myeloma in 2009, a slow-moving terminal cancer which raises protein levels, weakening the immune system and bones.
He was undergoing chemotherapy when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in October 2013.
‘It was absolutely crushing for us because Dad was now dealing with two cancers,’ Mrs Fitzsimmons said. It was then that the mother, who was breastfeeding son Cassius, recalled a documentary on breast milk and started researching its benefits.
While doctors remain sceptical, some studies have shown breast milk boosts the immune system. Swedish scientists have discovered that a protein in the milk destroys cancer cells, which has given rise to hopes that it can eventually be developed into medication to treat the disease.
Mrs Fitzsimmons, who still breastfeeds Cassius, now three, added: ‘I thought carefully about it and made sure there was clear medical evidence … Cassius was only a year old and I was still feeding him so what harm could it do? I made sure he got what he needed and expressed the rest for Dad. ‘The first time Dad tasted my milk from a glass he drank it down in one go.
‘He looked at me and smiled, then said “this tastes fine”.’
The family were amazed when doctors told them his protein levels had stopped increasing.
His daughter said: ‘I wanted him to drink more so asked a friend and a relative to start donating their milk too and he was soon taking 3fl oz. Incredibly, his protein levels then actually started falling.
‘There’s nothing to suggest that anything else other than the breast milk caused this to happen.’
She said doctors were ‘quite dismissive’ but added: ‘Dad told me he was grateful and hoped others would benefit from our story.
‘We hope scientists and researchers will study the benefits of breast milk and take them as far as they can…To me it was the most natural thing…It was wonderful to be able to repay him in my own special way for all the love he’d given me.’
Professor Karol Sikora, Dean of Medicine at Buckingham University, said the milk ‘could potentially have a beneficial effect on a patient with cancer’ but ‘no proper clinical studies have been done…It could also have adverse effects by upsetting existing immunity so I wouldn’t recommend it.’