Amanda was left devastated when, two weeks after learning that she was pregnant with her first child, she was informed by doctors that she and her unborn child may not live long enough for a full-term delivery.
The Connecticut-based firefighter was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, and the prognosis for her and her child was not positive.
However, Amanda defied all the odds to deliver a healthy daughter 10 months ago, and while her health has continued to decline, she keeps on fighting.
Nobody knew if I would be able to. My doctors could not find any case studies. Just lIke I knew that I would deliver a...
Posted by Amanda's Angels - ALS on Monday, September 7, 2015
In a Facebook post that has gone viral, Amanda shared a photo of herself breastfeeding daughter Arabella (whom she refers to as “Peanut”) and gave an insight into her health battle and experience as a mother.
“I went from running races, working in a lab and firefighting to not being able to move anything but my head and on a ventilator in 5 months…As soon as I was rolled to my room Peanut was placed on my chest. I was blessed that she immediately knew what to do. The nurses that I had gotten to befriend over the past quarter of a year knew how important it was to me to breastfeed. They were determined to help me give that gift to her,” she wrote on her page, Amanda’s Angels.
While this is an incredible achievement for Amanda, it is not without its complications. As the new mum cannot move, nurses and family needed to hold Arabella to her breast in order to allow her to nurse.
Now, Amanda is pumping, and as well as having to delay taking her pain medication, two people need to hold the pumps while she expresses. Amanda, however, is as determined as ever, adding: “I will continue on until my body no longer produces.”
Amanda’s friends set up a GoFundMe page for baby Arabella and the Bernier family, which has already raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to cover medical expenses and equipment.
The incredibly heroic Amanda and her family are in our thoughts.
