Snapshots of healing
A wedding photographer, Chicago resident, Lauren Wakefield has a passion for capturing the moment and documenting the important things in life—good or bad.
So when Lauren started breast cancer treatment at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center at age 26, she asked her best friend, also a photographer, to photograph her cancer journey.
Doctor visits. Chemotherapy treatments. A head shaving party. Everything.
“I told her to just take pictures—I didn’t want to see them or tell her what to do,” Lauren says. “I just wanted to be able to look back at it.”
Months later, when Lauren was leading a photography workshop, she was trying to teach other photographers about being fearless. She created a slideshow with the photos her friend had taken during her cancer treatment and photos another friend took of Lauren and her fiancé during that time.
“I wanted to show them that all this had happened in my life,” she says, “And I smiled through it all.”
Watch Lauren’s slideshow here. Slideshow by Lauren Wakefield. Photos by Sidne Hirsch and Christy Tyler.
Story image credit to: Christy Tyler.
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About the Author
health enews staff is a group of experienced writers from our Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care sites, which also includes freelance or intern writers.
Simply STUNNING.
Fabulous! I’m sure not all the times were good, but this shows perfectly how a positive attitude and invaluable friends and family in your life can make the whole process much better! Loved this – thank you to all for sharing!
Beautiful – thank you for sharing your story with us
This video brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it. So amazing! Thank you so much for sharing, Lauren!!