Breast Milk Donations Pour in for Baby After Dad's Facebook Plea

The father of an infant son has been gifted with breast milk after he made a plea for donations following the sudden death of the boy’s mom.

“I am a new single father to Brody, my 8-month-old son,” Alex Green, of Bend, Oregon (pictured above), posted Friday on the closed Facebook group Portland Mamas, which has more than 11,000 members. “His mother died in a car crash 4 months ago. His mother wanted to breast feed him until he was a year old. So for the past 4 months I have continuously been seeking out breast milk donations. And that is what I am doing now.” He didn’t have much luck in Bend, he explained, so he was reaching out to mothers in Portland, about 160 miles away.

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Now, donations from lactating moms have been pouring in — enough to feed Brody breast milk until at least his first birthday, Green, an artisan soap maker, told KATU. “I can obviously do almost anything for him except breastfeed him,” he said. “I knew his mom wanted to breastfeed until he was a year old, and I was willing to do whatever it takes to do that for him. I’m no hero in this situation. I think people donating their time and breast milk are the ones who should be acknowledged. I’m just an average, ordinary guy trying to take care of his son.” Green has since started a separate (and closed) Facebook group, Breast Milk for Brody, with more than 45 members so far.

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Baby Brody’s mom, Catherine Twete, was riding as a passenger in a car on June 27 when the driver lost control and the vehicle rolled over, killing Twete at the scene, according to local reports. Her son was just 3 months old at the time.

Baby Brody with his late mother, Catherine Twete. (Photo: Facebook)

“I shouldn’t be having to write an obituary for a 20-year-old new mom with a 3-month-old baby and her whole life ahead of her…it’s so not right…I don’t understand and I never will…” Green wrote on Twete’s Facebook page shortly after her death. “Cat was such a good person with a beautiful soul…hard to describe just what she meant to me and my family and baby Brody in a couple paragraphs…beyond tragic…our lives..our dreams are forever changed….my heart is broken.”

Twete gushed about motherhood on Facebook just two weeks before her death. “This love is what I was looking for. It will last forever, at least our version of it,” she wrote. “Though I know the day will come when you are a grown man and I will have to let you go, I will hold onto these moments and never forget. You are everything I never knew I needed my son. You are the one for me. My love.”

Monetary donations have also been flowing in for Brody, through a GoFundMe page set up by friends of Twete’s mother, Robin Twete, which has raised more than $9,700 for family expenses. On her Facebook page, Robin posted coverage of the breast-milk story from a New York ABC news affiliate on Monday, noting, “Little Brody is loved, even in New York on their news channel! I’m happy that this is bringing awareness about donating breast milk! And yes formula is ok as well, all of my sons have eventually been on formula but this was one of Cat’s wishes that we all will fulfill with all of the generous donations and hard work from some amazing mommies out there! Thanks so much!”

Photo: Facebook/Alex Green

Green writes on his business website, Wanderlust Soap Company, that he is passionate about his work, tattoos, and riding his Harley Davidson. On his Facebook page, he posts frequently about his love for Brody and for the boy’s late mother.

“To everyone on FB who has been giving me their love and support the past two weeks, I thank you. 2 weeks ago the beautiful mother of my 3 month old boy was taken from us way to [sic] early. She was the kind of person that the world needed more of. You will never be forgotten,” he posted in July, recounting an incident that told him Twete was still watching over them.

“And then 3 days ago I hit a deer on my Harley going 60 and had to be life flighted back to Bend because they thought I broke my back and leg. Lil’ momma must have been looking out for me because 2 hours later I walked out of the hospital on my own two feet,” he wrote. “God must have said it wasn’t my time and that I’ve got to stick around on earth to raise my son. Thank you everyone for your prayers. They have been felt and heard.” Just like his pleas for Brody’s breast milk.

(Top photo: Facebook/Alex Green)

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