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Grieving mom finds recipient for special gift N.W. Ohioan 1st in state to give By LUKE SHOCKMAN BLADE STAFF WRITER Brenda Canada knew her baby probably would not survive but in the midst of her grief decided some good must come from her son's death. Five months before Christian was to be born, doctors told Mrs. Canada and her husband, Mike, that the child had severe kidney abnormalities and he likely would not live more than a few minutes after birth. The Wauseon-area couple began praying for a miracle but knew the odds were against them. So Mrs. Canada vowed that the death of her son, who was due to be born Christmas Day, would not prevent her from giving a special gift to someone else's baby. 'We didn't want to live with any regrets,' Mrs. Canada said. 'We wanted to help other babies.' She had heard about programs in some parts of the country that collect excess breast milk from mothers and distribute it to babies, usually premature infants, whose own mothers cannot provide milk. After searching on the Internet, she learned the closest program was in Iowa, and she called officials there. Much to her surprise, they told her that a similar program was just getting under way in Ohio. Mrs. Canada agreed to donate her breast milk to a new collection program based at Grant Medical Center in Columbus after Christian was born, becoming the first mother in Ohio to donate to the nonprofit Mother's Milk Bank of Ohio. The milk bank has acquired milk from other banks in the country since its formation last year. It expects to install its own pasteurization equipment soon and will begin processing and shipping breast milk from Ohio mothers to any hospital in Ohio that needs it. All milk is pasteurized and tested to ensure safety, according to Georgia Morrow, director of the milk bank. 'I have some moms calling every day who want to donate milk,' Ms. Morrow said. 'A lot of them are moms who are breast-feeding healthy babies and just want to he
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