NOVEMBER 7th
This year’s Christmas card charity shoots are a little different as they are dedicated to someone pretty special to me, my little boy Jack.
At the beginning of the year I shared the story of how poorly he had been and he had had an operation at just 2 days old. I was overwhelmed by the wonderful messages we got, but when a he got ill again a few weeks later I often didn’t have the heart to tell people he wasn’t getting better. In his first 4 months he had 3 hospital stays, two operations and a serious infection, but then as Spring hit we got into a routine and he thankfully hasn’t had another hospital stay – and we hope that’s the case for a very long time. But sadly the news we had to deal with was, he’s not actually getting “better”, because after his first operation at 2 days old, that night I was told the devastating news that Jack was 90% likely to have Cystic Fibrosis. Being sensible I did the one thing you should never do and googled all about it – never use google for medical reasons – EVER! Shortly after his first diagnosis, we got another blow that he also has Alpha 1 liver disease – poor little Jack had a rough few months. And it wasn’t the easiest for us. Made worse by the reality both conditions are genetic so Ian and I are carriers of these nasty conditions
I kept Jack’s illness off Facebook and the blog until now as we wanted to get used to it ourselves, but equally I didn’t want to worry my lovely bride and grooms and families Ive worked with this year, after all life goes on and actually sometimes my work is my own time out from it! I am pretty sure most of them would have no clue, and whilst we were undoubtedly facing possibly the biggest challenge of our lives, I never wanted to worry them.
BUT they say you are never given a bigger challenge than you can deal with, and his new routine is ok, and he’s doing well and we genuinely believe and hope that will continue to be the case. However the reality is there is no cure for Cystic Fibrosis but with research who knows what will happen, 30 years ago the prognosis was they wouldn’t live past childhood, now it is around the age I am now. Recently I met an amazing mum who has really inspired me and beaten all the odds as she is just a few years younger than me and doing amazingly well (which clearly means her parents and now herself have been doing a lot of hard work and a great job!) We will always be super positive but naturally I do want to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, in anyway we can. Earlier this year Mia’s wonderful nursery helped us raise some with the graduation photographs.
So this year’s Christmas card photography shoots are dedicated to the Cystic Fibrosis trust. As usual, for this week they are only open to existing clients we will fit in as many of you as possible so the sessions are just 15 minutes long. For babies under a year we have our knitted elf or reindeer hats – as modelled by Jack. And for older ones or any child that can sit up we have our adorable sleigh, or perhaps you fancy wrapping up a present and photographing the joy of them opening it. As long as its festive, the choice is yours – the sessions are only for little ones (we do have family mini sessions available too on different dates) and must be Christmas themed. The sessions are on November 7th throughout the day and our suggested donation is £50 which includes the digital files and will be payable directly to the just giving page which I will send everyone who gets a slot. In the last two year’s the sessions have sold out in a day! I’m launching these just before tea this time to give the late readers who are at work in the morning a chance this year. I might not reply to message this evening but dont worry its all on first come first served spaces. Hope to see LOTS of you on the day!
Jack (and mia) helped model for us too!
