I offered to do a session with Hayden because she was being teased by some neighborhood children for having a feeding tube. She even went so far as trying to cut out the tube to avoid being different! We wanted to help her celebrate who she was and what she was capable of, so we had a “super shoot.” Hayden absolutely LOVES superheroes, and her mom and I turned the whole session into a superhero day—and even Spiderman popped in for the shoot!

I think the person who can best say how amazing Hayden is and explain how loved she is would be her mom, and this is what she posted on Facebook:
“Three years ago, the doctors at CMH sat me down and told me that our little monkey needed surgery to place a feeding tube in her stomach. The tube they had placed down her nose as an infant wasn’t going to provide the “long term supplemental feeding support that she needed.” I was devastated. I’d spent 6 months working desperately to get every possible calorie I could into her little body and prayed nightly that she would soon start gaining the weight she needed to lose this ugly tube that ran across her beautiful face and NOW they wanted to put a hole in her perfect little tummy?!? I felt completely defeated. I felt sadness like I’d never known before, and I was scared, scared for what this meant for my baby’s future and scared that we would continue to experience these “failures” in caring for our medically complex kid.

Life has certainly been interesting these last few years, it’s been a roller coaster of emotions, but the one constant emotion that I have felt from day one is PRIDE. I am so very honored to have been chosen to bring this amazing little girl into this world, to have her call me Mommy and to raise her into the wonderful human being that she was destined to be. May she grow up knowing that she can do anything she sets her mind to, that these special needs of hers will only make her stronger and more prepared to take on the world, and that she is as perfect as perfect can be!

Hayden, you are absolutely amazing. You are a hero in your own way, and I was honored to get to spend my day with you.