That is what I asked when I photographed little Mi
kayla for the Cystic Fibrosis Stair Climb. The Stair Climb is happening this Saturday, February 9th at the IDS Tower in Minneapolis. I have heard about it, but never really knew what it was all about.
Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease which affects 30,000 children and adults in the United States. CF causes the body to produce an abnormally thick, sticky substance in the lungs and digestive systems leading to life-threatening infections."-cystic fibrosis foundation.
Let me share with you a little bit about Mikayla and how I came about photographing her for this event.
Some of you may know that my husband (this is Christine writing) Mike is a Minneapolis Police officer. A few years ago the police department was contacted by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation with an idea. They wanted to get the officers involved and thought it would be fun to have the Minneapolis police and Minneapolis fire "race" up the stairs. My husband thought this was a great challenge and took on the job of getting it all set up. Every year he has planned it and every year it has grown with more local police and fire departments participating. This year, besides the Police and Fire dept, there is a Secret Service team, The HCMC Paramedics team, State Patrol and Bloomington Fire. Some of the Honorary captains are Frank Vascelaro,, Shjon Podin (Colorado Avalanche hockey player), Tom Chorske (New York Devils Hockey Player). Every person on the team has raise $75 or more each to be in the event. They are also competing to see who can bring in the most money:)
So how does Mikayla fit into all this? A few years ago, my husband Mike contacted the St. Paul police and found out there was a police officer with a daughter suffering from Cystic Fibrosis. Cystic Fibrosis then had a face and a story for the Stair Climb.
This year, I offered to take the images of Mikayla for the t-shirts they would be wearing for the climb. How wonderful is that? Mikayla, and her parents Mike and Donna, were so WONDERFUL to work with. They wanted to have a t-shirt with Mikayla representing both the St. Paul Police and the Minneapolis Police to wear at the event. We took those images first, but Mikayla was so fun that I wanted to do something fun and girlie with her. So I put our pretty pink wings on her and captured her sweet personality. I really enjoyed taking these images for them. I hope to be involved with this event every year. Here are a few of my favorite images from the session.
To find out more about Cystic Fibrosis log on to www.cycsticfibrosis.com. If you want to get a team together to challenge the Police and Fire teams (actually If you can beat Mpls Fire...you would be the bomb) e-mail me at christine@artistcove.net and I can have Mike contact you next year. It is a great event! The more people we can get involved the better! - Christine