Sweet Lauren | Vancouver Family Photography

I would like to introduce you to Lauren. I met Lauren and her loving parents through the Tiny Light Foundation, a non profit organization that provides professional photography for children and families that have been faced with a life altering diagnoses. Their story is unique and although you wouldn’t know it from these photos, Lauren had a very rough start in life.

She was born at 41 weeks after an easy pregnancy, however, her parents knew right away something wasn’t right. On her third day of life she was rushed to BC Children’s Hospital where it was determined that she had been having seizures since birth (and most likely in utero). The family spent the next two months in the NICU and PICU. Lauren was intubated and sedated the whole time as hospital staff tried to find out what was causing her seizures. Every time she was taken off the sedation she would start to seize again.

Finally, a week before her two month birthday it was determined that Lauren had a very rare metabolic disorder called Pyrodoxine Dependent Epilepsy. What does this mean? Well it means that Lauren has to take vitamin B6 everyday and be on a special low lysine diet. It means she can’t have dairy, meat, soy or anything that has protein. It means that she will always be on the smaller side and have low muscle tone. It means she is developmentally and physically delayed.

On the day that I had the pleasure of meeting Lauren she was full of smiles. At almost two years of age she is more or less walking and communicating with a few words and many signs. She is sweet, loving and full of life.

I want to thank the Miller family for allowing me to capture this time in their lives. I also want to thank them for pretending it wasn’t raining when it most certainly was!