My best friend Francis had a brain tumor. And ever since I posted my original blog entry about it, I get questions all the time asking how she is doing. When we did the family photo shoot, Francis was having her first meeting with the Mayo clinic later that day. She had no idea if she was going to stay and immediately get her tumor removed, or how anything was going to go forward. Just a couple hours before, power of attorneys were signed and wills were created. Things a mother of young children never wants to be faced with. The photo shoot we did that day was incredibly hard. I had to catch myself several times from crying. There was just so much uncertainty in the air. I have never shown Francis this picture, because before everything went down I just couldn’t show it to her. But here, her husband Robert’s face says it all
And there is Frannie, putting a brave face on. Very much Francis!
They traveled to the Mayo clinic and scheduled her surgery date. Francis talks about all of this, her feelings, everything on her wonderful blog. I am so proud of her for sharing her story! Her surgery date was scheduled for the end of November. Francis told me they put a crazy number of IV’s all over her body- like 8+- in case she had a stroke. Since her tumor was wrapped in so many blood vessels, the likely hood of one happening was incredibly high. But they never needed to use them! Not one of them got loose and amazingly they got every bit of her tumor! Her surgery went as well as it could have
And one of the biggest bonuses of all was that she didn’t have to shave her head! Francis has always been known for her gorgeous, blonde hair and if her sugery had been just a couple months earlier she would have. But there was an advancement in medical technology right before her surgery that allowed them to only shave a strip of hair
Francis is now doing incredibly well. She goes to physical therapy several times a week to work on the muscle that was cut on her face to get to her skull. That muscle has scar tissue so they are working to soften it up and that muscle also affects her arm and arm strength on that side of her body. But she is doing great with it! At the begining, the PT really wiped her out and now she is able to go about her days pretty well. About a month ago we did a photo shoot at my house. I wanted to capture her tumor free and full of life!
A friend of ours from high school, Sylvia Fox, has become an in demand makeup artist in Nashville and just happened to be in town the week of the shoot. The name of her business is Seriously Foxy. Isn’t that cute?? I didn’t tell Francis I had booked her and let me tell you, it was so great to see how happy it made Francis to see Sylvia! Here she is putting on Francis’s makeup
And so the shoot began
I wanted the shoot to show sides of the story. The first had a theme of “OMG, I am alive and doing fabulous!”
Take that Egore!
And then we switched to a more dramatic feel. Sylvia did a makeup change and I love what she did!
Isn’t Francis absolutely stunning??
I know this sort of image isn’t eveyone’s cup of tea, but I love the serenity on her face with her hair blowing slightly. It’s very much a “calm in the middle of the storm” feel to me
And here is her slideshow of the fun we had that day!
Francis’s sisters are hosting a fundraiser to help with the medical expenses of her brain surgery. You can only imagine the expenses involved with the surgery, her husband’s time off work, everything! She also has to go over to the Mayo clinic every 3 months to get follow up MRI’s to see if there is any tumor regrowth. The fundraiser is being held at this etsy store with 70 items still up for sale. I had a $200 photo package up there that was purchased by a family that lives in Texas who will be down here this summer that I am super excited about! If you don’t see anything you would like to buy but still want to help, you can go to Francis’ blog and if you scroll down a little you will see a donate box that will direct you to paypal. Every bit of the proceeds goes to Francis’ family and will help out tremendously!
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