Meet Addison,

Only 4 weeks old and she may have already helped save her sisters life!

I photographed her sister Harper when she was 7 weeks old – you can see the shoot here. She had a horrendous start to life and has now at 14months been diagnosed with CP. Addison’s cord blood was collected at birth for the potential use for a stem cell transplant for Harper ❤️

From Addison and Harpers Mum:
“14 months ago, Michael and I welcomed our beautiful girl into this world under very traumatic circumstances.
Unfortunately on the night of the 3rd of August 2017 I experienced a placenta abruption. A medical rarity that is life threatening to the mother and baby.
During an emergency cesarean, Harper died 3 times due to the Placenta completely separating from the womb, which caused a loss of blood and oxygen to her vitals.

Due to Harper’s birth, Harper has been diagnosed with Severe Spastic Dystonic Quadriplegia, Microcephaly and Epilepsy. Which means Harper’s ability to do everyday tasks such as speak, walk and crawl are all non existent in our precious girls life.

Watching Harper everyday wake up with her massive smile and conquer each day with such strength is truly a blessing. It is incredible to watch despite the pain of her twitching, arching body that is controlling her tone and undermining her possibility to develop and reach minestones in unimaginable ways.

Imagine picking up a fork and once you grip the handle your whole body tenses up so tight that it completely locks up every single muscle, your toes are pointed so far that they resemble the perfect ballerina point and the grip of your clenched fists could rip the skin off your palms. It is gut wrenching to watch Harper endure this every single day without her brain letting her control the ability to stop this from occurring.

Our Hope 4 Harper is to provide her the ability to move comfortably, to enhance every possibility to achieve some or all milestones. This hope could come true from the available medical treatments accessible. Stem Cell Transplant has the ability to restore the damaged brain. This can improve the cognitive skills and function of Harper’s body.
Spinal Dorsal Rhizotomy – A neurosurgeon cuts the damaged nerves carrying sensory information from spastic limbs where they enter from the spinal cord. Allowing further improvement to Harper’s motor skills. A parent said this surgery was like gifting their child with new legs!

There is amazing research and treatments developing for Cerebral Palsy, however, it comes at an expense and travel since they are not yet available in Australia.
Our hope is to raise enough money for these treatments to occur so Harper’s furture isn’t defined by a wheelchair.

Thank you for reading our story, if it touched you in the slightest way please Please PLEASE share!
We would be forever grateful for any publicity or donations, big or small, in the hope of reaching our future goals for our Courageous Harper.”

Both Addison and Harper were absolute superstars during their shoot yesterday and here are a few photos from the shoot 🙂

You can read about her sister Harper’s battle with Cerebral Palsy here https://www.gofundme.com/yjbnx6-hope-4-harper