Amy Bidois breastfeeding her first son Billy back in 2014. Photo / Supplied.
Amy Bidois breastfeeding her first son Billy back in 2014. Photo / Supplied.
Amy Bidois always wanted her children to have the benefits of being breastfed.
However, after having a preventive double mastectomy, she's now unable to offer her next son that nourishment herself.
Amy, 35, is due to have her second baby boy next month. Still set on ensuring he can reap the benefits of breast milk, she has successfully put a call out for donor milk to help.
Shemoved to New Zealand from the United Kingdom in 2010 when her sister fell pregnant with her first daughter.
While here, she met now-husband Powhiri in Mount Maunganui. The Pāpāmoa-based couple had a son, Billy, in 2014, and are fulltime carers for nephew Amos.
Amy and Powhiri Bidois and their little boy Billy on their wedding day in 2016. Photo / Supplied.
But in 2016 Amy's sister Emily was diagnosed with breast cancer, turning Amy's life upside down.
As Emily grappled with chemotherapy, the sisters learned they carried the BRAC2 gene – an inherited gene that increases the risk of a woman developing ovarian and breast cancers.
"I just felt like if she had it, I would most likely have it too, because we share so many similarities," Amy said.
The sisters even shared the same birthday four years apart, so Amy made the decision to get the test.
"I wasn't surprised at all," Amy said when she found the genetic mutation too.
The next decision was the biggest of all, deciding whether she was going to take the step to get a double preventive mastectomy.
"The main thing I was left to think about was having more children, and I knew I wanted another baby."
However, after seeing what her sister had been through, she decided she needed the surgery straight away.
"I needed to do it, I just wanted to be around for the beautiful family I do have."
Amy said she had felt a great deal of relief after the surgery, but also an overwhelming sense of empowerment that she could make that decision for her body.
Amy Bidois a week after the surgery. Photo / Supplied.
"I prepared myself that I wasn't going to be able to breastfeed, yet, it was difficult getting my head around it. I kept thinking 'how does feeding a new baby go without breasts?'"
Amy was set on feeding her baby breast milk as she felt it was the most nourishing thing for her baby boy on the way.
So she put out a call on Facebook, asking for donor milk from expectant or current mothers.
She said the response had been so incredible, but she was still after baby milk for babies at a similar age to her own.
Amy and Powhiri Bidois, with their two boys Amos, 12 and Billy, 5 announcing the pregnancy. Photo / Supplied
Mum-to-be Sammy Rose-Scapens, who was having a baby around the same time as Amy, said she offered her milk because breast milk had immense benefits for a baby and it was little to no extra work for her.
Sammy said she had used a range of friends' breast milk when her first baby was in the specialist care baby unit.
Charity Mother's Milk NZ that screens breast milk also offered their help.
Amy was amazed by the amount of support she had received.
Through laughter, Amy said the worst part of the mastectomy was simply that her breasts no longer "squish down" when she cuddles her boys.
