The story I share with you all today is one very special to me. For some, these photos will be difficult to see. If you are sensitive to photos which are traumatic in nature, you may not want to read this post.
- This photo was taken just weeks before Gabriella’s accident at her big cousin’s birthday party. Such a serous girl. She was having a ball but also spent a lot of her time seriously analyzing all of the big kids.
This past May, a family very close to mine lived through what I can only imagine to be a complete nightmare. I asked Gabriella’s mom to summarize her story. Her mom, Sharon shares, “On Monday, May 6th, my daughter, 21 month old Gabriella, was involved in an accident that resulted in a Traumatic Brain Injury. After brain surgery and two strokes, we were praying for a miracle and we knew we must baptize Gabriella right there in the PICU.”
I learned about the accident, that the situation was quite grim, and that Gabriella’s family decided to have her baptized in the hospital. If you have lived through a medical emergency, you understand the feeling in the moment is hard to describe. A whirlwind hardly describes it well. I worried that Gabriella’s family didn’t have the time, or even the energy in them to plan for much, let alone think about taking photos of her baptism. A baptism is an important life event and I wanted to make sure they could remember such a big day after their nightmare was over and the foggy haze had lifted. At the time the photos were taken, Gabriella’s prognosis was only a prediction. I shared these photos with Gabriella’s family and respectfully kept them private. Today, Gabriella is doing well. Her mom shares that “Our prayers for a miracle were answered and today Gabriella is a happy and healthy 2 year old. We are forever grateful to have such amazing pictures of this important moment in Gabby’s life and look forward to Jamie capturing many more moments to come!” I am quite grateful to Sharon and her family for inviting me to document such a difficult time of life for them. I am overjoyed that little Gabriella has made such a tremendous recovery. Also, Gabriella gives some really good hugs. I just thought you needed to know that about her too.
This is so beautiful, and a wonderful way to finalize my day. Thank you for this special story, and the moving pictures. It was a very difficult time for my cousins and their mother (my Aunt Marlene) during Gabrielle’s accident and first weeks in the hospital. My mother, a registered nurse, would have been with Gabby and Gabby’s family, and particularly Gabby’s grandmother Tennier – who was always present during the difficult days when my mother, father, and children were ill – but my mother was called to that “glorious other side” in December 2001. Her birthday is tomorrow, November 26, and she is also celebrating Gabby’s wondrous recovery.