A few months ago, on day 186, I took photos of a 10 year-old Bay City girl who had been diagnosed with stage five kidney failure earlier this year. Her mother gained local and national attention with her attempts to get the word out that her daughter needed a donor, whether it was by contacting us at the newspaper, or standing on street corners asking people to help get the word out and get tested to be donors. Her efforts paid off.
Her daughter, Jessica, has received a donor anonymously and will have the kidney transplant in the first or second week of January. Local Bay Cit businesses are now helping the pair out with medical bills by holding donation days this Saturday, where beauty salons, Jessica's favorite candy store, and other shops will donate and profits and proceeds taken in directly to Jessica and her mother, Stacey. A benefit is being held for them Friday night at a local theater with food and music as well.
This girl is by far one of my most favorite people I've photographed. She's so much fun, and such a spunky little kid. I had to remind myself how serious her problems were, because you'd never know it by meeting her. I met her and her mom at the aforementioned candy store this evening, and after we had taken pictures and I was going to leave, Jessica came up to me and gave me a giant hug. Then, her mother thanked me for helping to get her story out, and that she didn't think they could've done without the paper's publicity. The article that I took today's photos for should be up tomorrow, but in the meantime you can see all the photos from today in this MLive gallery here, and once the article's up there should be a link to it under the photos when you look at them individually.
Have I mentioned before that I love my job?
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