Losing even one drop of breast milk while in the midst of feeding a newborn or infant can feel like a devastating loss. Some even refer to breast milk as “liquid gold” for a myriad of reasons, including the fact that feeding and pumping is a consuming labor of love. Postpartum moms put in a lot of hours and energy to build up a stash of milk for their baby.
If that milk goes bad or spills, tears of frustration typically follow — it’s a case when it’s more than okay to cry over spilled milk.
For Detroit Lions’ offensive tackle Taylor Decker and his wife, Kyndra Decker, a huge chunk of their stash of frozen breast milk for their newborn got lost in the mail. The couple had packed and shipped a month’s worth of frozen breastmilk from their football season home in Michigan to their off-season home in Arizona, where they plan to live with their 3-month-old daughter — Daisy Faye Decker — until the NFL season starts up again.
He turned to Twitter to put FedEx on blast for their alleged lack of customer support after a huge loss for the couple.
On Thursday, Jan. 12, the FedEx allegedly lost an entire month’s worth delivery of breast milk meant for Decker’s newborn baby and, when Decker, 29, asked for the delivery service’s help, he claimed they said there was nothing they could do.
“Shoutout FedEx for losing a perishable 24-hour shipment of a month supply of milk for my newborn, and responding that there is nothing they can do, and will not reimburse me. What a joke,” Decker tweeted.
Decker said that he drove around to four different FedEx locations in the Phoenix, Arizona, area, hoping to find the lost package that contained the milk.
One Twitter user replied with the unhelpful advice that Decker should just go to the grocery store and pick up some formula. “You could just go to any number of grocery stores and readily get formula in bulk. We bought a full case just yesterday with 0 issues. I would literally never rely on a courier service to deliver something that important to me on time. I would just go get it myself…”
Decker replied to the comment with snark. “Well grocery stores don’t happen to carry my wife’s breast milk,” he tweeted.
Several other Twitter users seemed to also be confused about what was actually in Decker’s package and suggested he order more “milk” through the pharmacy. “Check your local krogers or meijers. They might be able to order the milk through the pharmacy,” a Twitter user advised.
“Well unfortunately it was my wife’s breast milk that she had pumped and frozen so we could transport it for the off season. So sadly it can’t be replaced, which is why I’m pissed,” Decker tweeted back.
This is not even a debate about formula vs. breast milk. Millions of parents have fed their children formula without a problem since literally the 1800s. This has more to do with the amount of time and effort that Decker’s wife put into pumping that milk for her child — most likely hours turned into days of her life to build up that month’s worth supply.
To hear the news that a major delivery service lost something you worked so hard to produce would enrage any parent. And on top of that, Decker alleges that before he tweeted out his frustrations, FedEx wasn’t willing to help the couple out.
After the tweet went viral, FedEx did respond to Decker publicly over the platform, and in a happy ending, Decker and his wife were able to recover the package in a “salvageable” state.
“I think it’s appropriate to acknowledge Corneshia (I believe that’s the proper spelling) at @FedEx Exec offices doing a wonderful job helping us to receive our package in a salvageable state. A positive ending to an unfortunate situation,” Decker updated.
Whew. One found case of liquid gold and one happy couple and baby.
