Moms Unite To Provide Breastmilk For Baby After His Mother's Sudden Death

DIAMOND BAR (CBSLA.com) — Dozens of breastfeeding mothers across Southern California have joined forces to provide milk for a baby whose mother died after a heart attack.

The Milk for Brixton Project has united dozens of mothers devastated by the death of Liz Marquez, 32.

Marquez suffered a cardiac arrest Dec. 7 and went into a coma, according to normalizebreastfeeding.org, a breastfeeding-awareness media campaign by photographer Vanessa Simmons. Marquez was taken off life support Dec. 16 after nine days in a coma and tests that confirmed no activity in her brain.

When Marquez died, she left behind her husband and five children, including 5-month-old Brixton, who had only been home for a short while after being born premature at 32 weeks, Simmons said.

Marquez, an active member of the local babywearing community, wanted nothing more than to breastfeed Brixton for a full year, so Kristina Pulistar founded the Milk for Brixton Project.

The project has collected more than 1,500 ounces of milk at 13 drop locations in just six days, according to Simmons.

Besides breastmilk, the project's organizers are also asking for milk bags to give to donors, gas cards for transporters, ice packs for transport coolers and coolers for the runners picking up the donated breastmilk at drop-off locations. More drop-off locations and donors are also needed.

Financial donations are also being sought for the Marquez children and can be given at a GoFundMe account.

To donations of gifts, toys, food store gift cards, clothing donations and diapers, contact Kristina Pulistar at Milkforbrixton@gmail.com for a forwarding address.