At the end of February 2010, I saw the words "Flashes of Hope" for the first time. A mother whose young daughter had been recently diagnosed with neuroblastoma posted on Facebook about Flashes of Hope taking photos at the hospital of kids and their families. At the time, I had been a volunteer...
{ more }At the end of February 2010, I saw the words "Flashes of Hope" for the first time. A mother whose young daughter had been recently diagnosed with neuroblastoma posted on Facebook about Flashes of Hope taking photos at the hospital of kids and their families. At the time, I had been a volunteer with another organization that serves children with life-threatening illnesses for over 14 years.
I discovered there were chapters across the country serving both hospitals and camps for children with cancer and their families. By the end of the week, I had submitted an application to start a chapter in New Hampshire. By the end of 2010, the NH Chapter at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center was officially part of the Flashes of Hope network.
Volunteering with Flashes of Hope humbles us.
We are humbled by the clear love, compassion and caring that the staff and volunteers.
We are humbled by the parents whose lives come to virtual standstill while their children fights for their life.
But most of all, we are humbled by the children I have met who know cancer as "just another part of their life" and teach me, just by being, about the true spirit and strength of living and loving.
At the end of April 2011, one month after her third birthday, the young girl from the beginning of this story lost her battle against cancer. I personally think of our Chapter as the chapter she built. I truly hope that her mother finds some comfort in knowing that in sharing her journey with strangers, she has allowed the gift of Flashes of Hope to be shared with others.
In 2012, we combined the Camp Sunshine chapter with the New Hampshire chapter and renamed it Northern New England and Jodie Gregory joined us as chapter co-director primarily handling Maine-based shoots. In July of this year, we held our first shoot in Vermont at Camp TaKumTa in South Hero and also added Maine Children's Cancer Program.
Photographer Aaron Siskind once said, "Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever... it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.
