The Gold Hope Project | Fighter Session | Little Mya Portland Oregon Childrens Photographer
Fighter Session for Little Mya
The Gold Hope Project
Many of you probably don’t know that prior to working as a family and children’s photographer, I was a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner specialized in bone marrow and stem cell transplant. The care required for pediatric oncology patients has been an interest of mine from before attending nursing school, and I have missed working with these special children and their families.
So, when I found The Gold Hope Project, an organization that connects children with cancer and photographers in their local area for ‘hope sessions’, I knew I wanted to volunteer with this awesome organization.
Introducing Mya.
She was diagnosed at the age of 4 months with a posterior brain tumor.
She has undergone multiple rounds of chemotherapy, more than one surgery, and a stem cell transplant to get her and her family to this point, where they can celebrate Mya turning one year old. We were lucky to have the session completed just prior to the stay at home orders taking place in Oregon for Covid-19.
Mya and her family wanted to celebrate how far they all had come with this photo session which was held at Studio Northwest, thanks to their generous donation of the studio space and time for this ‘hope session’.
In addition to celebrating the family, I also wanted to ensurethat big sister felt special with some individual portraits of her own.
And, who can resist her radiant smile. The family said that big sister could always make Mya smile during her hospital treatments, and you can see how here. These sisters are so cute together.
Mya’s family brought items with her signature sunflower, gold, favorite blanket and stuffed giraffe to the session, all with some gold.
The shiniest item was this gold WWE wrestling belt given to Mya by Roman Reigns, who had spent time visiting patients in the hospital during Mya’s first round of chemotherapy. He recognized that she was a fighter, and I love how the belt shows how little she is too.
Let’s celebrate little Mya and her amazing family.
