As we enter into prime Family Portrait season, we want to share with you all a story that has touched our hearts. The following story is about a sibling of our kids’ friends and class mates, 15 month old, Parker :
Parker has a rare metabolic condition called Very Long Chain Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenase Deficiency (VLCAD). People who have fatty acid oxidation disorders (like VLCAD) cannot store fats in their body to use as energy. Parker cannot break down the fat that would normally be used for energy, and it becomes toxic. It can build up around his heart and other organs and cause deterioration or organ failure. This also means that he doesn’t have stored reserves to burn if he doesn’t eat. Fasting can cause lethargy, seizures, encephalopathy, coma, or worse.This means that any time he gets a “normal” cold, croup, etc. he is in danger of ending up in the hospital- if he doesn’t eat because he is sick, his body goes into metabolic crisis.
Parker needs studies of his heart and overall condition done in order to figure out how he can be treated and what needs to be done to help him live as long and as healthily as possible. Because his condition is so rare, he cannot have these studies done close to home. He needs to be treated at UCLA- several thousand miles from his home in Ohio.
Parker’s condition could change at any time, very quickly. Even these studies that he needs are fraught with danger, even in the hospital, as he must fast for them. Because of this, both of Parker’s parents need to accompany them, in case decisions must be made or procedures done for which they both need to be with their baby boy.
Their financial resources are minimal, and Parker always has medical expenses, so we want to help as much as possible in giving them what they need without depriving their family of necessities and allowing them to live as normal a life as possible.
We would love to help this family as much as possible, therefore, we will be donating 100% of our session fees to the Hendricks Family. I would encourage you to please share this story with friends, neighbors and relatives. We have availability during the week and on weekends and a variety of locations we can travel to in order to make your family portrait session fun and unique.
Thank you for your time and we look forward to capturing your family!!!
