O’Banion family

Day of Infamy is what it was supposed to be.  This was Laurie’s annual tradition. A time to remember the lives lost on the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor while snuggled up on the sofa watching the Pearl Harbor movie.   Instead, reoccurring and unexplained stomach pains landed her in the ER on December 7th.  Must be an ulcer she figured, I’ll be patched up and out of here in a few hours, already mentally planning for her work week ahead.

A CT scan did not reveal an ulcer, instead it brought a glaring spotlight to the cause of her stomach pain.  Her pancreas and liver were housing stage 4 tumors.  In one of those very unfair twists of fate, this type of cancer gives its first sign that something’s wrong when it’s already in stage 4.  Blown away in shock, Laurie was told she needed to stay the night at the hospital until she could meet with the oncologist the next day.

The prognosis was grim and seemed to offer little hope.  Laurie was told she was not a candidate for surgery.  If she chose to do nothing, she was given 3 months to live.  Chemo was her only option and the time table with chemo was uncertain.  Processing news like this is not done overnight and it is not done alone.  Mike surrounded his beautiful wife with a love that reminds her daily how precious she is to him.  Then, next in line were her kids and grandkids and parents.  The list is very long of all the family and friends who are rallying by Laurie’s side.

Preparing for chemo involved installing a port into her chest.  Then she needed to have a liver biopsy.  All this was taking place during the Christmas holiday and Laurie’s giant family descended upon her with all the love and devotion that surprises no one who knows her.  About 50 family members came to pour their love all over her.  She was crushingly sick but truly amazed by the outpouring of love by her wonderful and greatly loved family.

Laurie began chemo January 5th, scared to death, but rising to challenge that faced her.  Friends and family rallied to cheer her on and help her rise to meet the daily challenges of living with chemo treatments.  A February CT scan should have revealed a reduction in the tumors; instead, the scan revealed ALL of them had GROWN!  The weight of sadness and despair that invades your soul with news like this is difficult to put into words.  Laurie has switched her chemo regime and is eagerly awaiting what we all hope and pray will be good news in a week when she has another CT scan.  Shrinkage or a miraculous disappearing act is our fervent prayer!

Laurie has no idea why this has become her lot in life.  What she does know, is that her faith has been rock solid throughout this devastating journey.  Her Lord is her Rock and she will not be moved.  This is her story that He’s writing into her life and her life is flooded with beauty that you see in these portraits.  Laurie sees life in stories.  She’s a librarian who has shared her love for the written word with countless others, but most importantly, her children and grandchildren.  I knew I wanted to include that element in her portraits so I asked Laurie to bring a book.  She brought one of her favorite stories to share with her grandchildren.  Almost on cue, Laurie began crying when reading at the part that she said, ‘always makes me cry.’    Poor quality, but there’s a video clip at the end of this moment.

The beauty in Laurie’s story becomes even more apparent when you realize the story behind how this portrait session came to be.  Brooke, a recent client who raved about her maternity portrait experience, started her husband thinking, ‘I’d really love to see the O’Banion family have this kind of experience with portraits too.’  So, he rallied his childhood friends who were close with the O’Banions to gift them with this portrait experience.  Not just the session time, but a very generous package of product and styling services to pamper Laurie that day.  This was all a surprise to the O’Banions.  When they learned of this gift tears of gratitude and humility that they would be chosen to be blessed like this, marked our time together.

What I noticed during our shared time together, was an extraordinary amount of love in this large family.  A family that understands they are all in this crazy thing called life together, for the triumphs, the devastations, the hurts and the healings.  Laurie was so incredibly gracious, knowing whatever came from the day would be perfect because it was her people.  She radiated joy through every single set up we loftily had planned and were actually able to accomplish!  From the moment I met her, I noticed how sparkly her eyes were and how deep her joy.  I count myself blessed to be a tiny part in the story the O’Banion family’s life is writing.

Here’s a little clip of Laurie reading and crying at her favorite spot in Granite…little hard to make it out b/c she’s very choked up, but the moment was priceless…