Father Braves Hurricane Floodwaters To Preserve His Wife's Breast Milk — 'Tough Times, Tough People'
He is now calling on Yeti to sponsor him!
DinaPhoto | Shutterstock In the wake of Hurricane Helene’s destruction, many North Carolina residents discovered that they had lost power and safe access to the roads they depend on daily to collect their necessities.
Fortunately, many community members in the town of Appalachia have lent a helping hand to their neighbors who are still without power in any way they can — even if it means trekking across flood waters to get a cooler of breastmilk to safety.
This is what one father did to ensure his wife’s breastmilk was kept in a cool and safe place after they lost power during the storm.
A North Carolina man hauled a cooler of his wife’s breastmilk over raging flood waters in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
Hurricane Helene took the lives of over 200 people and left millions without power and access to roads.
More than half of the deaths were reported in North Carolina, where several feet of fast-moving flood waters destroyed entire communities. Appalachia was just one of the communities that suffered significant damage due to floodwaters, leaving many people without safe access to roadways.
However, some people were determined to brave the floodwaters in order to protect their most valuable assets.
For one family, it was breastmilk.
In a TikTok video that has garnered over 1 million views, Emily Singleton of Appalachia captured her two close friends hauling a large cooler of breastmilk across the flooded Roaring Creek in order to get it to a safer and dryer location.
“Appalachian folks make shifting ways to save breastmilk for their babies during the flood,” Singleton wrote in the text overlay of the viral video.
Speaking to People, Singleton said that the breastmilk in the cooler was stored by Graham’s wife, Logan, for their baby.
"The day after the storm, Logan and Graham were trying to figure out how to save her breast milk and escape to her parents' house that had a generator," she shared.
"The bridge out of their house had become inaccessible due to extremely high water, and they had to shimmy across fallen trees to get out."
"This was obviously not a viable option to safely get the heavy cooler out, packed with frozen meats from their then-thawing freezer, to keep the breastmilk cold.”
The man and his brother-in-law crossed a dangerously flooded creek to ensure the baby had enough food in the storm's aftermath.
To get the breast milk to Logan’s parents’ house, Graham and his brother-in-law Josh decided to use the raging creek as a makeshift highway to transport the cooler.
Once Graham crossed the creek and made it safely to the other side, he and Josh gathered up all the rope they could and tugged the cooler across the creek.
The journey also kept the temperatures inside the cooler at a reasonable level for storing breast milk.
"If you are ever in this scenario without a generator ... creeks and rivers and springs can keep milk cold for a few days, which is what all of our Mamaws and Papaws had to do growing up," Singleton noted.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, freshly expressed or pumped breast milk can be stored at a temperature of 77°F or lower for up to 4 hours. It can be safely refrigerated for up to 4 days and kept in the freezer for up to 12 months (although it is recommended to be used within six months).
RaspberryStudio | Shutterstock
If breast milk gets too warm and is left out of the freezer for too long, it can become riddled with bacteria that can make children seriously ill, suffering similar symptoms to that of food poisoning.
Viewers of the viral video were deeply moved by the man’s dedication to keep his baby’s food safe.
“Appalachia is strong. I love seeing this; it warms my heart to see people helping people,” one TikTok user commented.
“Appalachia was settled off this same grit, determination, and sense of community. Seeing everyone helping, rigging up pulley systems. Makes me even prouder to be from there,” another user shared.
In times of tragedy, it is communities and neighbors who are always ready to lend to one another a helping hand.
Even if Helene may have devastated homes, road systems, and grocery stores, it is good to see that the determination of some people who were affected by the storm has not wavered, and they are able to do what they can to help themselves and their fellow community members out.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.