Anais & Family

I met Mara almost 5 years ago through a mutual friend. Through out these 5 years, I have always tried to stay in contact Mara and her husband Mach. Well, we lost contact through out the last 3 years until I found Mara on Facebook a couple of months ago. The last time that we had actually gotten together was for our mutual friend's daughter's bowling party and Mara's baby Anais was barely a year old.

It was great to go through her Facebook albums and see that her daughter Anais was already 3 years old. She also had a boy, Johnny, and Mara was pregnant with baby #3.
While going through her albums, I stumbled upon a few pics that showed Anais at a Hospital receiving Chemo. My heart crumbled to pieces when I realized that Anais had been diagnosed with Leukemia. Tears came to my eyes and I wanted desperately to reach out to Mara but what does one parent say to another parent with a sick child? I continued to look at the rest of the pictures and just prayed. She was so young, a full life a head of her and yet here she is fighting a battle that she didn't see coming.

At the ending of March, Mara reached out to me. She wanted to know if I would be willing to take pictures of Anais. She told me how Anais would be undergoing another round of vigorous chemo treatments in mid-April and since Anais had been in really good spirits lately, she wanted to take the opportunity for some photos outside. I immediately wrote back and said that I would be honored to photograph Anais.

We decided to hold the shoot in Prospect Park on Easter Sunday. J accompanied me on the shoot, his second time working as my assistant....LOL. It was a beautiful morning and when I met Anais, I was completely in awe with how much energy she had. She rode her tricycle the whole way down towards the pond. She was laughing and playing, she had a blast. I tell you, her energy was contagious. Despite the harsh sunlight (the trees in the park were still bare and so there wasn't much shade being offered by the pond) I was able to not only photography Anais at play with Little Johnny, but I took some maternity shots of Mara as well as family shots.

It was truly a humbling experience for me. To see such a beautiful soul filled with so much energy I just knew that Anais was a fighter. She isn't giving up her battle and I know she will live a long a healthy life. Anais, thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to meet you. I admire your strength and positive energy. Thank you Mara and Mach for making my Easter Sunday an unforgettable one.

Here are my favorite shots of the day!























I invite you all to visit Anais's website where you can read journal entries on her cancer journey, please take a look and pass on the site to anyone that may be interested in her story.

Big Hugs,
Judie