On January 4th I got the honor to take photo's for a dear friend of mine. Linnea and Erik are both fighters. Erik a fighter for his life, Linnea, a fighter for her son. The true meaning of MOM.
When Erik was only 16 years old he got into an extremely terrible accident which took away a good part of his life. Erik went from a healthy, happy 16 year old to a young man who cannot talk and not move. Although he understand what is going on around him, he cannot respond in a way you or I can.
Erik's accident started with a knock on the door from a policeman. The last person any mother wants to see on her doorstep, especially with bad news. Linnea was told that Erik was in a bad accident and is being flown to Vancouver immediately. Erik was in a motor-cycle accident, Linnea has always told me that she knew it instantly and she was right. Erik was on his way to work on his motor cycle on a foggy morning. He thought he saw a car coming straight on towards him and swerved into the ditch. Erik had a habit of not doing up his chinstrap on his helmet. When he swerved into the ditch, his helmet flew off and his handle bar quite literally cracked his head and crushed his skull. Erik has a brain injury. Erik also survived. Through all the test tubes, cords, weight loss, hunger, tears, hurt, pain, scars, surgeries, loss, mourning (it never ends) Linnea was there every step of the way and Erik survived.
Linnea does a PARTY (Preventing Accident and Risk Related Trauma in Youth) program in Quesnel, BC and educates people on what happened to Erik can easily have been preventable. She shares his powerful story and introduces Erik. I am so proud of her strength and courage. You would not believe what she has to go through in the healthcare system, welfare system and yet everyday this amazing women gets up at 7am and visits her son every morning. She wakes him off, gets him up, monitors his health, knows more about his medicine than his own nurses, gives him a bath, buys all of his movies, and items. Everyday. Linnea is such a strong women and I don't know how she puts up with it. She always talks about how blessed she is and never dwells on what she has lost. Erik gets better daily and I know for a fact that it has everything to do with Linnea's faith in him.
Taking these photos was an absolute honor. She deserves something amazing. February's Charity of the Month is going to be going to the fundraiser for Erik's new bed! They have a bed that is absolutely perfect for him that would make life way easier for Linnea. Unfortunately it is not covered by the BC healthcare system and it is over $17,000. The nurses and Linnea herself have been doing fundraising for Erik's Bed for the last few months and I would love to be part of that. If you are interested in helping, please book a photo shoot with me or you can contact me to help by making a donation to Linnea and Erik so they can continue to empower young kids with making the right choices.
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