An Everyday Hero. {winner}

I feel so privileged to announce the winner of the Everyday Hero giveaway. I want to first thank everyone who participated, thank-you! and so here we go, the winner is: the entry by Amy Wilde, who nominated her cousin Brynn. Here is her story {it is a must read!}:

"My (then 10 year old) cousin, Brynn was reading a book one afternoon when she felt a little bump in the bottom of her foot. She told my Aunt, and my Aunt said it was probably from wearing flip flops or something, didn’t really think anything of it. Brynn was adamant that she wanted a doctor to look at it, so in order to put her at ease, Christy, my Aunt, called to book an appointment. The doctor is a family friend so he said to just come in and he would have a quick look. He didn’t tell them this then, but he was worried when he saw it. Brynn had a CT scan, and an MRI the next day, and an appointment for a biopsy at the children’s hospital was scheduled for a couple days later.

They told them there was only a 5% chance it was cancerous, but a few days after the procedure, I was at their house, the phone rang and my Aunt came into the room crying. It was cancer. Brynn cried and cried, and was asking, “Am I going to die, will my hair fall out, will I have to miss school?” All day Brynn had visitors, as family and friends heard the news. And that night Brynn told her family, it would all be okay, and that she didn’t want anyone to be sad. That was July 2010.

The type of cancer Brynn was diagnosed with is rhabdomyosarcoma. Over the past 16 months, she has endured Chemotherapy, Radiation, and surgeries. Watching her {and her family} go through all of this has had such an impact on me. I feeling like saying “she is so positive” is such an understatement. She has endured so much pain, she has had to sacrifice so many things, she has watched friends she has made at the hospital pass away, including her dog. I feel like she has had to go from a 10 year old to an adult. But through it all she still manages to keep herself and everyone around her smiling.

She finished treatment in September 2011, and will hopefully be able to go back to school a little bit in January. This whole time their family has been spread out- Brynn and her parents in Calgary and my other 3 cousins at my parents or grandmas. Now they are finally back together under one roof! They still have a couple years of follow up testing to go through, but hopefully the worst is behind! I think about Brynn whenever I feel overwhelmed, and I know I can get through anything!"
-Amy Wilde

If you are now feeling inspired by this incredible story you can read more about Brynn and her experience on her blog. Thank-you, Amy for sharing Brynn's story and I am so excited for the opportunity to photography this amazing family!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Sharing this story has just made me even more excited for Christmas. Porter is in love with our Christmas tree and is excited too! As you can see though our ornaments are now on the top third of the tree for safety reasons {they are my grandmother's antique glass balls}.