Weekend Assignment

My assignment today was about a young 13 year old girl and her single mom packing for a trip to Toronto. We met up with Mom and Daughter at a school carwash. I was able to get some shots of our young subject interacting with her friends.
Cecilia is not unlike any other young person of her age. She likes music, she likes to sing and she tells me she likes to act and enjoys school drama. Pretty normal stuff really. She has a smile that lights up a room. She would like sports and the outdoors, but cannot enjoy them. She gets cold easy. Walking with her mom or hanging with her friends at the car wash today, tires her out. She is easly fatigued.
Cecilia has endured more in her thirteen years than most of us will in a life time. She has been through several open heart operations and now she needs a new heart.
That is why her and her mom are on their way to Toronto. She needs to be close to "Toronto Sick Kids Hospital" as they are the only childrens hospital that will do transplant operations. She may be there for a very long time waiting for a heart.
Why blog this story? Well it made me think and I hope it makes you think about discussing with your family about organ donation. I know its a tough subject and can be an uncomfortable one but do it. Signing the back of one's drivers licence is not enough. Talk to your family, speak to your doctor.
There are many more stories out there of people of all ages. They love life but their organs are failing. They need a gift and that gift is the gift of life.
I know we all wish Cecilia well and with that gift of a new heart, a healthy out look. I know I hope that I can do a followup story of her on stage doing what she loves most, performing.
We all love stories that have a happy ending.