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Cancer Kids. This week I volunteered for Flashes of Hope photographing Cancer Kids at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Another photographer who was scheduled for the sessions was ill. Even a runny nose prevents photographers from photographing these kids, many of whom can’t leave their hospital rooms. We must wear clean gloves, masks and gowns into each different room, after carefully scrubbing our hands. Then while in a patient’s room, we must be careful to not touch anything.
Flashes of Hope is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating powerful portraits of children fighting cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.
One of the hardest parts of photographing Cancer Kids for Flashes of Hope is that there is no follow up with these families. I turn in my files and prints are sent to the families. The kids and their families each with their own set of circumstances, welcomes me in to see a tiny glimpse of their world. These sessions often take me in directions that I don’t expect.
This morning a story came across my Facebook news feed about a photojournalist, Leslye Davis, who covered the story of a Cancer Kid, Andrew Holland for three years. It’s a powerful story that explains how hard it is to document stories that pull on your heart strings over and over.
Special thanks to Jenna Blongiewicz who assisted me with this session at Children’s Hospital. Jenna hired me to photograph her wedding eight years ago and we’ve been good friends ever since. Now she has two children and is learning to be both a portrait and documentary family photographer.
Peace, Kent
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