A Neillsville Woman's Tragic, But Courageous Story Receives National Attention
Tuesday, November 19th, 2019 -- 10:51 AM
(ABC News/GMA) -A Neillsville woman’s tragic, but courageous story has received national attention.In a time of tremendous grief, one woman chose to help the babies of other moms to honor the one she lost. Sierra Strangfeld, of Neillsville, made the selfless decision to pump breast milk for donation, even though her baby was gone. Strangfeld had hoped to breastfeed her baby boy, Samuel. But a little more than halfway through her pregnancy, she found out her baby had Trisomy 18, a rare genetic condition that affects about 1 in 6,000 live births. When it became clear Samuel was not going to survive much longer in utero, Strangfeld has an emergency c-section. He lived for three hours. Since Strangfeld's daughter was fed from donor milk supplied by her sister-in-law for a period of time, Strangfeld decided she wanted to help other moms in the same way.
Strangfeld donated 500 ounces of pumped breast milk. Strangfeld told "GMA" that "Although some days were terrible, and it would have been easier to just quit, Samuel's the reason I had milk to give. It was one thing physically connecting me to him here on Earth." Strangfeld and her husband, Lee, hope to one day establish a foundation in their son's name. Right now, "Smiling for Samuel" has a T-shirt campaign to raise awareness of Trisomy 18 and there's a scholarship in his name.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.