My sister, Danyele, and my nephew, Aiden.

In June of 2006, my sister, Danyele, went into the hospital with a staph infection. After a few days, the prognosis for her was that she probably wouldn't make it. She was on life support and the staph was in her lungs, her shoulder and in her legs and she had terrible pneumonia. I refused to believe that my sister would die from this. With lots and lots of prayer, my sister pulled through and amazed everyone. At this point, the Dr.s didn't believe that Danyele would be able to ever have children.

In November of 2009, I went to New Orleans (where my family lives) for a photography convention. While I was there, my sister told me she was pregnant! I couldn't believe it! After a few months, I was getting so excited and started planning her baby shower. We were waiting to find out what the sex of the baby was and when she went in for her 4-5 month ultrasound and they discovered that the baby wasn't developing right. After extensive testing, we found out that the baby has Trisomy 13. The outcome for my little nephew is not good. They say that he will probaby only live for a few hours after birth.

The Dr.recommended that she have an abortion since he will not be able to live with this chromosome disorder. Of course, Danyele just couldn't do that to her beautiful baby inside of her. She has decided to go through full term and put it in God's hands (and see a new Dr. who supports her 100%). I admire her so much for her strength and courage to do this. Even though we know Aiden will die right after birth, we still pray hard and hope to have as much time as we can with him.

The only thing I felt I could do in this tragic situation is photograph my sister so that she can cherish these memories forever. Aiden is a gift to all of us and we will hold him in our hearts always.

My sister came to visit me this week (along with my Mom and Grandma) and we decided to go to the Driftwood Inn and snap a few shots of her and Aiden.

I love you Danyele and hope that you treasure these photos forever.

And to my nephew Aiden, I Love you.

My sister and my Mom

My sister and I