Miss Delainey

 This session was really special and I'm honoured I was able to do these for this family.


Meet Delainey.
She is a true miracle!  Born premature and with a rare chromosome disorder called Trisomy 13, the odds were stacked against her.  Trisomy 13 comes from two healthy parents, and for reasons the doctors have yet to figure out, the body has triples of 13th chromosome.  This usually causes severe retardation and organ failure. Most babies diagnosed with this do not live past a few months, and are given a 5% chance of seeing their first birthday.
Most babies will never smile. Never laugh. Never be able to communicate. Will not have any muscle tone or control of their bodies.  And some never leave the hospital.

BUT ... Delainey just celebrated her first birthday!!  She smiles! She laughs! She is starting to use sign language to communicate already (keep in mind she was premature, her adjusted age is closer to 10 months, so even without the Trisomy 13, that's pretty impressive!)  She coos, and has quite the personality.
Although she's not yet sitting on her own, she's rolling around and holding her head up.  She's even rocked herself into a crawling postion from her tummy! (her mom proudly showed me the photo:)
She is baffling doctors and geneticists daily now, as she continues to defy all the odds against her and change the statistics.

I fell completely in love, and I sincerely hope to photograph her in the future!  She is a rare angel among us.  I was so blessed to have met her, which is funny, because I set out to bless them with this these photos.  God is so amazing, and I cant wait to see what He has in store for this litte girl!

You can follow her story and cheer her on on her Facebook page "Delainey:Living with Trisomy 13".  Her mom created the page to stir awareness about this disorder, but I am personally following it to keep them in my prayers and be another cheerleader.