I had the wonderful opportunity to coordinate a photo session fundraiser for a friend of mine. I am part of an online forum of Mommies in Northeast Ohio. I have been part of this group for almost a year now and I have gotten to know some amazing women.
One of the women, Laura, got pregnant and was anxious to have a healthy baby. Unfortunately, God had a different grand plan for Laura and her husband Brad. At their 20 week ultrasound, they found out that their baby had a heart condition and for the best chances for the baby, she needed to have surgery while she was still pregnant. The best doctors for this procedure are in Boston, MA, so Laura and Brad made the tough decision to fly to Boston and have the doctors perform in-utero surgery on their baby boy. To throw another twist into the story, when they had the tests done in Boston, they found out that they weren't actually having a boy....the baby was a girl!
The first surgery went well, but the medical costs started to add up. It is so hard for me to see someone having such a hard time and having to go through so much, emotionally and financially.
So I talked to Shan and we decided to organize a fundraiser to try and help lessen the financial burden that Brad and Laura have with the the baby's medical care. So I put it out there to the girls on my board and they rose to the occassion!
We did 20 minute photo shoots for everyone that signed up. We had 33 families take part in our fundraiser for baby Stella!!! Over the course of 2 Sundays, we shot for about 12 hours to get the sessions done. We put all of the images online and all of the proceeds will be donated to Laura and Brad!! I am really hoping that we can raise a couple thousand dollars.
One of the girls on my board suggested that we have a sign and take a picture of each person that participated in the fundraiser holding the sign. I thought that was a great idea! We then decided to create a collage of those images and I am going to have it framed and sent to Laura and Brad in Boston. (They "moved" to Boston for Stella's birth because she would receive the best care there. Stella is just over 3 weeks old and has already had 2 more surgeries, but she is a fighter!) I thought that the collage might be exactly what they need when they come home to their apartment in Boston after long days at the hospital with Stella. It is something that they can look at and remember that they have friends and loved ones here in Cleveland that love them and are supporting them.
I really hope that this fundraiser brings in a lot of money for Brad and Laura. They are going through such a hard time, I just wanted to do my part to help ease their burden.
I actually got this message from Laura a couple of days ago and it brought tears to my eyes. It was titled "I truly have no words":
Thank you doesn't even cut it. I seriously don't know what to say. the generosity that I have felt from you is unmeasurable. The pictures that you took are gorgeous and the sign that says "we love you baby Stella" brought tears to my eyes. I can't wait to bring Stella home and bring her to you to photograph. Thank you so much, for your kindness and your support. Like I said, I have no words to describe how grateful I am.
With much love,
Laura, Brad and Stella
That alone made everything worthwhile. I am a huge believer in Pay It Forward. When you have something, give it to someone that needs it. I am just thankful that God blessed me with a talent that I can use to help others.
If you feel the desire to donate to Laura, Brad and Stella, please drop me an e-mail and I will let you know how to do it. They will likely have hundreds of thousand of dollars in medical expenditures by the time that Stella gets out of the hospital and there is still the chance that they will have more surgeries down the road.
We love you Brad, Laura and Stella. I can't wait to finally meet you in person someday soon!
Steph
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