Jeff Charis-Carlson

jcharisc@press-citizen.com



When Ashleigh Mack posted a photo of herself breast-feeding her infant son earlier this month, she didn’t expect it to attract an outpouring of support from complete strangers.

She was just excited that her 4-month-old son, Lincoln, was able to eat again after more than 40 hours of being poked, prodded and tested by medical staff at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

“I was just feeding my baby,” Mack said in a phone interview Wednesday.

But once the photo was reposted July 15 to the Facebook site Breastfeeding Mama Talk, breast-feeding advocates around the nation started to learn about the trying past few weeks in the Mack family’s life.

As of Wednesday, the BFMT post had been shared more than a 100 times and attracted more than 6,000 likes and nearly 400 comments from women who were sharing their own experiences.

“I’ve read every single comment,” Mack said. “And there were quite a few that really touched home and made me cry. These people don’t know me, but they have my back.”

It's been "a long 2½ weeks" since Lincoln was first hospitalized.

Doctors initially thought the 4-month-old had a virus, Mack said, but eventually they determined that he had a rare strain of acute myeloid leukemia. Given the spread of the cancer, they proposed chemotherapy as the treatment.

Having to spend every day since at the hospital, Mack has not been able to go back to her job as a client care coordinator — leaving her family of five dependent on the single salary her husband, Ian, earns as a warehouse manager for a construction company.

Extended family members created a Facebook page, “Love for Lincoln,” and a GoFundMe site to get out the word about Lincoln’s health concerns and to raise money to cover hospital and other costs.

“There are a lot of strangers that care about us,” Mack said. “People who don’t even know us. I’ve had several meals in the past few weeks brought in from people I’ve never met before.”

With the posting on Breastfeeding Mama Talk, those offerings of support started coming in from farther and farther way.

“Let's give this mama the royal BFMT treatment tonight!! All the positive vibes and love for this mama and her baby!!” the post read.

Mack said the photo had been taken after Lincoln had gone without her milk for more than 40 hours. After hospital staff decided to sedate the boy for some tests, there was too much risk of aspirating or choking to allow him to nurse.

“After every procedure we asked, ‘Can he eat yet?’ and they said, ‘No, we have more work to do,'” Mack said. “That was the hardest part. You can’t say to him, ‘You can’t eat.’ But that’s all he does: eat and sleep.”

Once the hospital staff said gave the OK, Lincoln was allowed to latch on — which he did.

“He needs my breastmilk now more than ever!" Mack wrote in her original post. "We're kicking (cancer’s) butt!"

The post also led to Mack being contacted by the website Babble.com for a story that was posted there Tuesday.

Mack said Lincoln is in the process of rebuilding his immune system after the chemo treatments. If he continues to do well, he might then be able to leave the hospital after a few weeks. But then he’ll have to be brought back again for another round of chemo and then begin the process all over again.

The cycle will continue until Lincoln is able to have a bone marrow transplant.

The diagnosis came as a complete surprise to Mack. Lincoln had been “perfectly healthy” at birth, she said, and the couple’s other two children have “not had so much as a cavity or tonsillitis.”

Mack also said it’s been painful for her to have to put her 7-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son “on the back burner” as she stays focused on Lincoln.

“It’s been a struggle,” she said. “Especially with my daughter. I’m her main go-to, and she’s been having a hard time being 7. We’re trying to explain to her that it's important.”

Mack said the doctors still don’t know why Lincoln developed leukemia, and everyone will be watching carefully to seek “how his little body reacts to the chemotherapy.”

But right now, she said she is grateful for “the love and support that we have gotten ... for a little boy who just came into the world.”

Reach Jeff Charis-Carlson at jcharisc@press-citizen.com or 319-887-5435. Following him on Twitter at @jeffcharis.

If you go

The extended family of Lincoln Mack will be holding a fundraising car wash for the 4-month-old from noon to 3 p.m., July 30, at Hills Bank, 1009 Second St., Coralville. Lincoln has been diagnosed with a rare form of Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Information is available at http://bit.ly/2a2V0Ii.