Thank you for visiting my blog. I'm located in south Gilbert, Arizona. I have twin daughters and one little boy...between the three of them, they keep my days busy between gymnastics and soccer. My children and husband are my biggest support each day.
A year and a half ago, I was thrilled to photograph a family that had gone through struggles to have a family and document their sweet twins that they dreamed of finally coming home.
The pregnancy wasn't easy. About half way into the pregnancy, they received devastating news that their baby girl, Bentley, wasn't doing good during an ultrasound and potentially losing her. A week after the ultrasound, they had a follow up ultrasound to check on her progress. During the follow up test, their little girl had drastically improved but received the news that she would most likely
have Downs Syndrome.
Despite their daughter's disability, they have gone to every length to ensure that she receives everything she needs to have the happy and fun life every child deserves. And they were thankful she would grow up with her twin brother Cooper to play, talk and run around with.
7 months later, their mother and I would talk a couple of times about a few concerns
she had with Cooper.
In her mommy heart, she knew something wasn't right.
And this is when their mother went from being already impressive as a mom in reminding me how powerful a mother's love is for her children.
She took her son in to the hospital to get help with a video recording of him she had taken that had her concerned. What she recorded, gave the doctors enough concern to begin looking deeper into what could potentially be happening to her son.
Their baby boy Cooper, just weeks after he was born.
During their newborn session, I can't lie...I kept fighting back the happy tears. The happy tears for this family that is full of such incredible love, happiness and complete utter infatuation for their babies. Of course, every parent shares these emotions.
After going through constant testing, they received the horrific news that their son had a catastrophic form of epilepsy, Infantile Spasms.
Infantile spasms greatly affects his mental development with high mortality rates. For months, they tried several different medications to help stop the 100+ seizures he was having daily. None of the medications worked in stopping the seizures.
His parents continued to not accept what the doctors were telling them and determined to search everywhere to help their son in stopping his seizures that were causing irreversible damage to his brain.
And they did find a medical treatment to do just that.
They located a clinic in California that specialized in Infantile Spasms that was able to accept their son as a patient. They received a phone call that were able to see Cooper and within 48 hours, Cooper and his parents were at UCLA for testing.
After extensive testing, the doctors discovered he has a large abnormality on the right side of his brain. Due to his age and severity of the spasms, Cooper is a candidate for a hemispherectomy . This surgery will remove the entire right side of his brain to stop the damage and give him the opportunity he deserves to have the healthy and happy childhood he deserves.
Cooper is just a week away from this surgery.
Last weekend, I was again thrilled to photograph his family before his surgery. His mom simply wanted me to photograph all of them doing just what they love...living the moment with 1 year old twins and embracing the constant activity and happiness that their twins have brought to their lives.
And, more importantly, capturing their little family of 4 before they become a family of 5 in October. Yep, they are thrilled that they'll be welcoming home a sweet baby girl in October. The pregnancy was a huge surprise last spring and has been the little blessing just when they were needing it.
Even with all the struggles Cooper's parents are going through in getting Cooper the help he needs. This family is just as strong as ever, laughing, loving and just as infatuated with their sweet and precious little twins.
Cooper's parents are beyond amazing. Which is why their good friends and neighbors created a fundraiser for them in hopes to relieve the stress they are able to go through. To read more about Cooper's fight against Infantile Spasms....you can read in details through their website.
Here are my favorites from their session that shows exactly all the fun this family has together.
Look at those eyes and lips....absolutely scrumptious.
Their family is hysterical together and never a dull moment...pulling mommy's hair and all.
Here are my personal favorites....oh the life with 1 year old twins! When a baby goes one way and the other is waiting...we had fun trying everything we could to keep them in one place. Hysterical memories were definitely made.
1 comments:
What beautiful pictures with such a special story! LYG, N
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