September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month. I’ve been seeing the hashtag #savethechildren taking social media over by storm. But, I rarely ever see the outrage over the children who are dying every day from cancer. We should be outraged, and we should be speaking up about ALL children who are suffering. Only 4% of the federal budget for cancer research goes towards pediatric cancer. Current treatment options for children are outdated. These kids deserve more than 4% of the funding. They deserve a fighting chance. They deserve treatments that are less toxic.
Cancer is the #1 killer of children by disease.
43 children are diagnosed with cancer each day.
1 out of 5 children will NOT survive.
Over 14,000 children will be diagnosed with cancer THIS MONTH.
Only 4 drugs have been developed specifically for childhood cancer.
Over 100,000 children lose their lives due to cancer.
I met beautiful Ariya in April of last year. Her Mom, Sam, was looking for someone to come to John Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, to take some photos for them. They basically lived at the hospital for most of Ariya’s life. Ariya was diagnosed with infant acute lymphoblastic leukemia at just 7 months old. I was nervous to photograph this sweet family. I pictured Ariya to be very sick and fragile, and I was eager to take beautiful photos for them. In reality, she was a happy, spunky ball of energy! After my initial nerves wore off, I laughed so much during my short time with them. We took some photos in the garden directly outside the hospital, and the hospital staff all gathered by the doors to watch Ariya play. You could easily see how much joy she brought to everyone who knew her.
On August 2nd, 2019 after battling cancer for 20 months out of her 27 months of life, Ariya gained her beautiful wings.
I’ve always hesitated to post these photos of Ariya and her parents, because I wanted to be selfless in gifting this session. I wanted them to have these moments of her captured. It was about them. But I’ve been following Sam ever since I met them, and I realize Ariya’s face and Ariya’s story needs to seen, needs to be heard, and needs to be shared.
https://ariyaslionpride.org
