'It has meant so much to me'

Since Jacolise Britz had her twins 16 sixteen weeks too early in June this year, she has been watching the desperate fight to keep her one surviving baby alive - and mostly thanks to donated breast milk the little girl has already almost doubled her birth weight.

"It was a Wednesday. I got terrible pains. I thought it might be nothing but by the afternoon I went to the doctor and insisted that they admit me to hospital.

"They called the gynaecologist and he said I was in labour.

"It was a terrible shock for me. I kept on telling him my babies weren’t ready but the doctor said I must push. I said no, I won’t push. Eventually I had to get an emergency caesarean.

"My babies were born at five minutes past eight and they were so .

"They were so small. They each both weighed 740grams. The one that was born second only lived for two days. She had bleeding on the brain.

"I never knew about donated breast milk. I was so scared . Theybut the staff said it was very safe. I decided to try it because I had no milk and my babies needed milk. It was all about them,” she said.

"Today Terri is much better. She now weighs 1.38kg. She is now and is just over two months old.”

"The only thing the doctor and I are fighting with her about is going off the oxygen. She doesn’t want to come of the oxygen. I tell her every day that if she gets that right she can come home with me,” Britz said.

"It meant a lot to me that the breast milk reserve bank could help me. My babies couldn’t have formula milk. It meant a lot to us that other mommies were prepared to donate their breast milk so my children could have a chance to live. It means a lot to us.”