Pearl - Five Year's Later "A Mother's Words"
Photography by Randy Bacon
PREFACE
Charity's daughter, Pearl, was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and kidney cancer in her first year of life. One kidney was removed followed by chemotherapy. Two years later, her other kidney went into failure requiring full-time dialysis. Pearl's remaining kidney was removed one year later.
That was then, this was now.
A short-film with Pearl's mother Charity talking about life and living to the fullest in the midst of her child's serious health issues.
"We've had a really good 3-year stretch from when she got her kidney transplant. We have learned from the very beginning to cherish every moment had, and we have tried to never let a day slip by that you are not thankful...even if you are in the hospital, well, you are still carrying on. Everybody is on a journey, and everybody has something they are fighting for and are trying to overcome. It was put into perspective for us, and we needed that perspective when a pastor said to us, "I just left the hospital and a mother was sad because her child was having a tonsillectomy and then I come here and visit you and your family and your fighting against cancer and she was just as sad and scared as you are today. It doesn't matter what your battle is, it doesn't matter what you are trying to overcome, everybody has something. Everybody has a story, and everybody is carrying a burden of something. and if it's the worst you know, it's the same as us, fighting cancer or a life threatening illness.
You have to remember to embrace whatever it is that you are being faced with, whether it is a disease, a financial situation, or whatever your obstacle or burden is, if you develop hatred and animosity towards it, I don't feel you can overcome it. For us, we had to fight for a child, and it was maybe easier to embrace it because we had to be happy for her, but because we have embraced it, it has given us the outlook that there is always something positive that comes out of every situation. "
EPILOGUE
This year, Pearl was diagnosed with kidney rejection. Her kidney is being rejected by her body. To preserve her kidney, a machine pulls her blood out of her body, cleans the antibodies, and puts the clean blood back in her body. She has this done every three weeks.