On March 15 just a month shy of her first birthday Sophie's parents Jennifer and Jim took her to the doctor for the 4th time in as many weeks. After being told each time that she had a "bug" and doing blood work would "appease mom more than anything", Jennifer fought for blood work to be done on her daughter. Sophie was not herself and Jennifer's instincts told her something was wrong. They didn't expect however, for the diagnosis to be so devastating. Sophie was diagnosed with ALL - Acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Because Sophie is so young, she is at extremely high risk. Malignant, immature white blood cells continuously multiply and are overproduced in the bone marrow. ALL causes damage and death by crowding out normal cells in the bone marrow, and by spreading (metastasizing) to other organs. ALL is most common in childhood with a peak incidence at 2-5 years of age, it is unusual for a child under the age of 1 year to have to fight this battle. Acute refers to the relatively short time course of the disease (being fatal in as little as a few weeks if left untreated), and luckily Jennifer and Jim were paying close enough attention to Sophie's behavior that they had her looked at right away (I always knew Jennifer would be an amazing mom).
Over the course of the next 2 years Sophie will endure several rounds of intense treatments and medications including chemotherapy. Not one cell can be left behind or she will be sick again. This family needs our help. Jennifer, a talented photographer (which is how we met) will not be able to work for at least a year, the cost of living at the hospital for 5 weeks at a time, and insurance will not cover all the medical expenses or medications. Anyone who has ever had a sick child knows how trying and stressful your financial situation becomes, and the only thing they should be worrying about is getting Sophie well.
Here's the cool thing about your donation. Thanks to the generosity of some extremely talented photographers, you will actually get an amazing gift with your donation. No matter what your amount, you will be able to choose from a very extensive gallery of beautiful images as large as 24 x 36 to hang in your home. The photographers who have donated their work are truly amazing and sought after in their respective genres of photography. For a tiny fraction of what you would pay if you bought these images from the artists directly you will have a gorgeous archival fine art print, and best of all, you will be helping our little girl.
Please donate if you are able.