Writing this post brings me to tears. I have known that I would be writing about this for a few months now and couldn’t bring myself to do it until I read a blog post from Jessica. You see Jessica is a client of mine. An old friend that I actually have knows since high school. She found me online and booked me for her belly photos when she was pregnant with sweet Nicholas. I could go on and on about what a sweet and amazing person Jessica is and I mean this with every bone in my body. She allowed me to capture their family from the beginning and I have been doing just that for the last year and a half. I consider myself so incredibly blessed to have this be my job but even more so when we got the news of sweet Nicholas.
You can read Jessica’s blog post here to get the full story and her version would be way better than mine. Jessica found out just a few weeks before his 1 year session that Nicholas had SMA. A genetic disorder that means their time with their sweet baby boy would be cut short. I cry as I even type this and can’t even begin to grasp what they are going through and cannot even begin to comprehend. Just recently though some new information has come forth that could mean a cure for SMA in Nicholas’s lifetime.
I am doing a fundraiser for them for their friends but also wanted to reach out to my blog readers and ask for help. Any amount….I mean any….even if it is just $5 would make such a difference. I challenge every one of you to take at least $5 and donate it to this amazing amazing cause that could potentially save this sweet boy. You can read Jessica’s post here that explains it all. If you donate please leave a comment on this post and let me know. I would love to see all the people that do it.
If you would like to make a donation in Nicholas’s name, you can click on this link:http://UniteForTheCure.com/Donate/ It explains all the directions for donating via credit card and by check. To make a donation via credit card you will go to this page and then click on the green donate button, which will then take you to the Families of SMA donation page specifically set up for Unite For The Cure. Please remember to write “Gustafson Family” in the “Message” section, so that they can keep track of their goal. For checks, please make checks payable to “Families of SMA” and be sure to write “Unite For The Cure/Gustafson” in the MEMO on the check, so that this donation goes specifically to the Unite For The Cure campaign and to our overall goal. You can mail checks to:
Unite For The Cure
c/o Gwendolyn Strong Foundation
27 W. Anapamu Street, #177
Santa Barbara, California 93101
Trina Jaynes: Awesome photos (as usual) and you're right, he is a total cutie!! Love your choice of locations!
Wendy Sandoval: Thank you Jen so much for taking such beautiful pictures of my boy. These are so wonderful! I can not thank you enough you are so talented!
elena w: he is a cutie, and these are awesome!
Jules: these are darling! LOVE this little guy!!! I LOVE the water location ... perfection!
sean morrison: great set...the skateboard is bigger than he is ;)
Jenny: Perfection.
Linda Liesenfelder: I may have you do my little girl's photos soon! Such a skill with the little ones!
Ben: Sure is one cute kid. Love all of these photos.
Wendee Blood: That is the sweet boy I get to spend time with everyday :) Great pics, you can see his personality shine right thru!
Jaime: Wen- he is so cute!! I love the 1st and last one. Jen- Tucker wants to see him he said.
Leah Harb: Love that last shot! What a wonderful genuine joyful smile. Really nice BW too!
Michelle Guzman Photographers: So adorable!!!! I love his expression on the first one!
beverly wright: wonderful job! my favorite is the one where he's standing in the wooden polies - LOVE the light!
brienne: Gorgeous Jen :)