Every parents worst nightmare is to be told your child has a life threatening illness. How would you feel if you were told that your child had to travel away to undergo surgery. Who would travel with the child, where would you stay, how are you going to pay for it?

Sadie is this most adorable little girl with curly red hair. Every time I met her she had this shy but yet cheeky little smile on her face. I could tell that there was a character living inside this little girl. I had a styled shoot I wanted to do and my girls were getting quite tired of me dragging them out for photos all the time so I asked if I could borrow Sadie. I thought she would be perfect for this shoot. However a few days prior to her shoot her mum tells me that Sadie is not doing to well and within a matter of days they find out that their adorable four your old has a brain tumor.

Sadie is immediately airlifted to Bergen Hospital where she underwent 8 hours emergency surgery. The family were told that Sadie would require further surgery and with a tumor in a very difficult location they had to travel to USA where she was to undergo pioneering surgery at NYU Langone Hospital in New York.

During this very difficult time I can’t even begin to imagine what the parents must be going through.  When you are told your child has a life threatening illness you want to do everything in your power to help them. Sadie spent 6 weeks in New York with her parents during this time they stayed at Ronald McDonald House.

Ronald McDonald is a non profit organization that offer a “home from home” for families while their children undergoes cancer treatment. When you are caring for your child with a life threatening illness the last thing you need is the additional financial worry of whether you can afford to travel for your child’s treatment or worry about where you are going to sleep each night. Instead of worrying the family knew they had a place to stay and was able to travel to New York knowing that they could focus fully on Sadie, her surgery and her recovery.

Since the Surgery, Sadie has made a remarkable recovery and has been amazing throughout the past year. The family has since put a lot of effort into raising awareness of all the good work Ronald McDonald do for families in this difficult time in life, from sale of homemade jam, coffee mornings and the latest adventure is Sadie’s Dad Simon who is training for the New York Marathon. Simon is running in Support of Ronald McDonald House and I am hugely impressed with him and the family’s effort in giving back. It would be amazing if you can go to his fundraising page and show the family some support, every little help.

Please visit their fundraising page here – remember every little help 

Once Sadie had recovered and the family felt up for it, I invited Sadie and her big sister Lauren to my studio where we did a photo session. Sadie may appear shy when you first meet her, but then she turns into a fantastic character. My daughter was in the studio with us and together the two were dynamite, they just could not stop laughing and joking.

I am so delighted that this story has had a happy ending. I am also am happy that I have been able to witness the story, to see the turmoil and then the ray of sunshine that comes out at the end. It really do teach you to appreciate the little things in life.

Sadie and my daughter had a lot of fun together.