Baby A, you are so loved…

I arrived at the butterfly room to meet baby A and his family. He was born at 38 weeks, but had a lot of medical problems that only allowed him a few short hours on earth. He passed away peacefully during the session.

I am not allowed to share names or full images so I got creative to share enough. My favorite image is with the butterflies. I think butterflies are a beautiful sign to let us know our loved ones are with us in spirit.

Please say a little prayer for this family. They lost their sweet baby. We are so thankful we were able to go into the hospital to take these images for them.

Little Heroes share…

I asked Irina to tell her story and she wrote it beautifully…please comment to let her know you are sending prayers and loving thoughts her way.

Nothing changes us as much as kids do! After baby #2 i became more and more interested in homeopathy: essential oils, coconut oil everything, diy baby wipes, detergent you name it! I watched many documentaries that made me believe that everything around us is toxic, that one in every 5 people will have cancer and with a family of 5 i was determined to avoid it. My kids barely had cake on their birthday, sugar was very limited, we ate mainly keto, we stayed active. I was also getting paranoid, i secretly hated my husband for buying bread! ( i know it is awful 😩); i often had anxiety attacks in the grocery stores. Kombucha, water kefir – we grew it. Gardening was a must. At every birthday party we went to, i was the mom that rolled her eyes at the desserts. What i’m trying to say is that i became a person that was always afraid of something, always hard on my family for no reason other that diet, i felt lonely too. As empowering as the holistic diy medicine can be, for me it became a place of very little trust in others, a place of a constant chase of a new cure, herbal tea, supplement, new must have EO….
So when i noticed that if i turn my neck at a certain angle, it looks like my lymph nodes are sticking out a little – i did what i knew best : made some new lotions with EO, increased my turmeric intake, better vitamin D and VitaminB complex, joined a gym with sauna, purchased a skin brush for improved circulation. But nothing changed. 6 months later i finally went to my family doctor. My labs were great, i had no symptoms of anything except those swollen lymph nodes. Because i was young and healthy they delayed a scan, there was no reason to even think i could have cancer. I was sent to an ENT…

It took 2 visits there for someone to look inside my nose, there they found a tumor. And yet, because i was young and healthy and had no cancer symptoms, they doubted cancer. Eventually the scan and the biopsy confirmed that i had nasopharyngeal cancer caused by EB virus -a virus so common that 90% adult actually carry it. The only odd thing was that normally that type of cancer, even though very rare, happens mainly to smoking men in their 40’s, I clearly didnt fit the profile.
I always thought in case of such diagnosis i will be on my way to Mexico. And yet here i stood extremely mad : i did everything not to be in this position, people looked at me saying ” but you look healthy”. All my healthy eating, my EO, my teas and herbs ….. nothing stopped the very rare mutation that can occur in our cells. I was mad and i felt like i let everyone down. I felt like a fake and a joke because all my natural remedies and all the health life style did nothing for me.
I was also afraid knowing from many internet sources that the Cancer clinics a pushy, very cold in their attitudes towards patients and only care about pushing you with chemo. Yet, in my research on possible Mexico trip, stories about people who were scammed in every shape and manner started to pop in my search. The natural cancer clinics locally are very expensive and are not covered by insurance.
I put my all my faith in God, my case was considered treatable, my husband has great insurance – i considered my situation as a very good one to be and we moved on with traditional radiation and chemo combo with more chemo to come. I didnt fully gave up on what i now call my woodoo life style 😜, i kept drinking my detox teas and used coconut oil and EO to help with burn from radiation. After 7 weeks they could not belive that from outside i had no burns at all. My mouth was damaged permanently, but pulling with coconut oil helped me greatly, they still suggest that trick to many radiation patients. When we started chemo i had to scale back the EO, nausea was very bad and every EO smelled awful and intoxicating. It was a rough summer. We were hoping for a clean scan in the fall.
What i did lear through his was something new to me: people where there to help in every possible way: the doctors and nurses were were compassionate and kind, my friends came in with so much help and support! I was not alone anymore, you see it is good to believe in yourself, but it is better to believe in others too!
The fall scan showed something weird on my hip. My type of cancer never goes into a hip….. everything else looked perfect, my labs were great. More investigation proved that indeed , the cancer spread to the bone. More radiation was scheduled right away. A regular check up during radiation cause my doctor to be suspicious of pain in both of my hips. An emergency scan revealed that my cancer took off like a wild fire in my bones. Yet my labs looked good.
Next we did immunotherapy – the answer to all the answers! But it failed on me. We went back to crappy chemo because nothing else works on me. Meanwhile, my labs still look good.
I had many ups and downs, my cancer keeps on spreading. Now i joke more often about EO and the new health trends, i let my kids eat fast food once in a while, we even have desserts at the house. My friends were and still are a great support system for me and my family and that is the most amazing thing to me. That was my life lesson: i dont have to do it all alone, i dint have to isolate and protect myself from everything and everybody. At this point i went past my expectation date. The doctors are not sure how i made it so far, yet every time the disease progresses in does it in a very unusual way. I became a very interesting study case.
Now i try to live everyday to the fullest i can, however it may look that day. It is all a gift, a very generous gift to me and my family. I’m thankful for the people who supported me and helped me along the way. I thankful for my lesson: life is a gift, a gift you share with others, live with others, it doesnt have to a constant battlefield. Trust in people, and above all trust in God and not unto thy own understanding.

Have you heard of our non profit? We are called, Little Heroes. We do photo sessions for families with terminally ill children (18 & younger) and terminally ill adults with small children (18 & younger). Sometime we get a call from the hospital when they have a demise or are going to deliver a baby that will not make it.

We have been doing this since 2007. We have photographed hundreds of families. We have so many stories. Just like most things, word of mouth helps get us connected with families that could use our services. That is how this family found us and thankfully the hospital allowed me to come in and take these pictures of this beautiful family. Sweet baby Henry was born at 37 weeks on October 5 and weighing in at 5 pounds, 12 ounces. His umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and he passed away in his mama’s tummy. So heartbreaking. So hard to understand. Please keep this family in your prayers.

We give Little Heroes families a session, digital files of all edited images, 5×7 prints of all edited images, keepsake slideshow and a lot of times they also receive a wall portrait.

We have officially been a non profit, 501c3 for over a year now. Our biggest fundraiser of the year is our yearly Santa Event. All session fee proceeds goes toward Little Heroes. This last spring we added an event, Cap & Gown portraits. Whoa! That was a hit! We will be doing that again this next spring right before graduation.

Do you know a family who could use our services? Most the time we all feel helpless when families are experiencing such heartache. This is the perfect gift!! It is priceless! Please feel free to message me with any questions.

On March 10, 2020… a little angel was born. 😇

Happy Birthday beautiful baby. We know you had a beautiful day in heaven. Keep watch over your family. You are so loved…

On Tuesday evening I received a phone call that my services were needed. I wasn’t in professional attire but that doesn’t matter. I packed up my gear and met with such an amazing family that was going through something no one should have to go through. We took our time talking about their angel and we created some beautiful memories for them to have and cherish forever. My goal is for this family to remember this day. The smells, the sounds, the touch, the love. This family asked me to not share the images or names so I cropped this one image to show how small their little angel baby is. So perfect…look at those toes…

My heart breaks for this little family. Please include this family in your prayers. Thank you for supporting Little Heroes so families like this receive this service that includes prints, digital files and a slideshow.

This smile will melt your heart! It was a hot afternoon in the studio yard but we had a good time. This session was with her grandma & great grandma. These ladies are a big part of Kassydee’s life and as you can see, Kassydee adores them! When the bubbles came out, so did Kassydee’s tongue. She treated them as if they were snowflakes. She reached out and tried to pop them and tried to land them on her tongue. It was so cute!! Kassydee just turned 4. Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Meet this sweet angel. She was born full term with Lissencephaly that effected her ability to breath on her own. She has had help breathing since birth on May 29.  
I met her on June 19 when she was free of tubes. She was awake and a strong little fighter when I met her. She sadly passed away early June 20.  
She was so sweet! She was so brave! 
These are the only images of their baby girl without tubes. I am thankful I was able to provide them with these images.  
Please pray for this little family. 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Hi everyone! I am Addison’s mommy. She is an amazing little girl and I am so very blessed to have her in my life. Here is a little bit of what we have in our life each day and more importantly what Addy faces every day.

Addy was born premature October 06, 2009 with many challenges to bare but has a spirit that shines her God given light. At the time we only knew she had a very mild case of scoliosis but little did we know it was about to get a lot more complicated and painful from here on out. It seemed like we would get educated enough with one diagnosis just for another one to be added to Addy’s list of diagnosis or as we call them, Addy’s super powers!

She was born with a rare chromosome disease called 22q11.2 microduplication syndrome and from there is where all her diagnosis started coming in. Here’s a list of our little hero’s battles she continues to fight every day!
Severe neuromuscular scoliosis with a 97 degree curve in her back which she was placed on oxygen and Hospice for, a couple months ago, as it is starting to crush her lungs and organs and her heart is stressed. The scoliosis continues to progress in growth in curving and twisting leaving her in a lot of pain but she still smiles through it most days
Multiple butterfly and hemi vertebra’s
Missing 2 ribs
ASD (Atrial Septal Defect) hole in the heart
Kidney Reflux (born with only one kidney and that one is enlarged
Acid reflux
Severe epilepsy which causes her to stop breathing at times with grand mal seizures but has recently been placed on cannabis oil through the state of Idaho and it has done miracles with her
Dysautonomia
Optic Nerve Atrophy
Cortical Vision Impairment
Tethered Cord (Addy had surgery on this once at Primary Children’s and it almost took her life. What was suppose to be an overnight stay turned into almost a month stay with acute pain care team taking care of her)
Epistaxis (nose bleeds) she gets these with seizures due to pressure when seizing
Aspiration
Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum
Small ear canals
Addy is unable to eat but gets her supplement through bottle feeding (Vanilla pediasure warmed up and ice cold water) She definitely knows what she likes. She also learned to hold her own bottle about two years ago!
She has a weakened immune system! Addy has numerous doctor visits , procedures, hospital visits, ambulance rides, and many sleepless nights in the ER/hospitals. Her life expectancy has always varied by doctor but anywhere from age 2 to 3 years old and with not much inspiration as to the expectancy on what she would ever be able to achieve. Addy is now the lucky number 7 years old and doing what most in the medical world said she would never be able to do. Addy was never expected to do many of the simple things we take for granted every day like show emotion, move her legs and arms, talk, just to name a few. Although Addy is unable to do many things like sit up, walk, talk on cue, eat, and we don’t know what she perceives through her beautiful blue eyes. Through love, hope, faith, Addy’s will, and the Grace of God what Addy is and can do, can only be explained as a miracle. Addy does not have a day without some pain and is unable to tell me where it hurts but her spirit and personality shine. What Addy is and can do is so much more than ever expected and I am so proud the Lord trusted me to take care of her. Although exhausting, heartbreaking and very painful, I have to believe that she is the Lords light and has provided purpose and meaning to me and everyone that knows her. When life gets me down I try to think about all the things that Addy is and does and then I realize I have no reason to complain. Addy was never expected to have hair (look at her beautiful hair), she was never expected to have teeth (she has a whole mouthful and is in the Zero Cavity Club at the dentist office), she can smile, laughs, cries, pouts, kicks her feet, moves her arms, holds toys, pushes buttons, pulls toys, rolls over, attempts to crawl, blows kisses, says momma, nana, ouch, hi, oink, sissy, Deja (her sissy’s name), uh oh, hug and heeey. Her words are not always on cue, she struggles to get rolled over and her kisses take a minute to get out but she eventually gets it done. Her 9 year old sister is her biggest fan and through her eyes Addy is perfect. They have a close bond that would just bring tears to your eyes. If her sister receives a phone call she never leaves Addy out…she reminds everyone on the phone that they must talk to Addy. She tells us that she can feel Addy’s heart and what it’s saying. I am a single mother with an education but decided to quit my job and schooling to attend to her numerous needs and provide her the best care and love every minute of her life here on earth. Simply said she needs me and I am told by many, “I am the air she breathes”. I am not certain I am that great but I love her beyond words and want to be that for her as she is my life. She has taught me so much in life and about life. She is very much loved and has a lot of love to give back. To know her is to love her. Some fun things to know about Addy are she loves music! Not just any type of music but hip hop and rap are her favorite. Her number one favorite is Pitbull. Next to me and her sister music is her calm in her storm and is medicine to her for whatever reason 🙂 Addy has learned to fake laugh just to make us laugh. 🙂 She loves to dance, being dipped upside down and loves to dance in the wind with her beautiful hair blowing in the wind. She extends her arms like she can fly. 🙂. She is an exceptional little girl and I feel very blessed every day that God has entrusted me with such a precious and fragile life, one of his very own angels! Thank you to everyone for the love, prayers, and support. God bless you all!! #teamADDY

Here is a link to her facebook page for anyone wanting to follow Miss Addy on her life journey and add a little sunshine to your day:

https://www.facebook.com/addyberria/

You can also search her by name:
Addison Capri Berria