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Photographer Spotlight – Crystal Freemon Photography

Photographer Spotlight – Crystal Freemon Photography

This month we are so happy to be shining our photographer spotlight on Crystal of Crystal Freemon PhotographyCrystal is an engineer turned family photographer, obsessed with chasing light and capturing real moments. She lives in Spring Hill, Tennessee (just outside of Nashville) with her husband and two daughters, ages 12 and 10.  She believes family portrait sessions should be fun. She’s a hockey mom, Nashville Predators fan & loves the county fair. Crystal photographs everything from maternity to seniors, but her passion is family photography. She loves being able to give families, especially moms, photos that really mean something to them.

Crystal Freemon Photography

How would you describe your photography? I’m fascinated by the way young children and toddlers see the world…the way that every little thing is a wonder to them, and just being outside is an adventure. I try to capture that wonder in my photography. I love bold, colorful images of families interacting with each other.  I’m obsessed with light, and particularly love backlit images. I encourage families to have fun at our photo shoots and to think of them more like playdates than photo sessions. We run, jump and play and create wonderful memories together. Creating a relaxing, pleasant experience for my clients is just as important to me as the final product. 

What made you want to join The Gold Hope Project as a volunteer? I’ve had the honor of working with a few childhood cancer fighters on my own before I signed up as a Gold Hope volunteer.  My little friends Arya, Katelyn and Finn have been such an inspiration to me that I knew I wanted to be able to photograph more heroes like them.  I love that the Gold Hope Project  offers this gift to families who are going through so much, all while raising awareness and money to fight this awful disease.

My buddy Finn was an amazing little 3 year old who completely touched my heart and recently got his wings after a long fight with Rhabdomyosarcoma. The faith and strength with which his family fought this battle has been an inspiration to me, and to our entire community.  While I am heartbroken, I feel blessed to have known this super hero for even a brief time. If I can give just a little something to other kids like Finn and their families, then I want to do that.

Crystal Freemon Photography

What is your favorite thing about being a Gold Hope photographer? I like feeling like there is something I can do for these families, even if it is something small. But more than anything, I think these kids have taught me so much. They have been through more in their short years than most of us will ever endure, yet they still possess that beautiful wonder of childhood, and an ability to live in the moment that we seem to lose as we get older. They inspire me to appreciate each day and to really see the beauty in the world around us.

Has working with children with cancer changed anything in your life? The problems in our world can be so overwhelming, it can be easy to assume that we are helpless to do anything about them.  Before working with these kids, I often felt that way. I recently watched a Ted Talk by Mark Bezos called  “A life lesson from a volunteer firefighter.”  The story he tells shows that even though we can’t all perform a grand heroic act, we can all do small things that make a difference. I can’t cure cancer, but I can give the gift of beautiful memories to these families.  I can get the shoes, as the Ted Talk puts it. And in doing so, I get so much more back in return. These kids and their families show so much strength, love, faith and even joy.  You can’t help but be changed by that.   

Crystal Freemon Photography

What is one thing you hope the families you photograph for the project can take away from this experience? I hope that they can find a few moments of joy, leaving behind the burdens and stresses of fighting cancer. At my recent Gold Hope Session, the mom talked about how little Kelly had spent so much of her young life at the hospital and how much fun she had at our outdoor session playing in the leaves and exploring.  I’m so glad they were able to take a break from all the worries and just enjoy their beautiful little girl. I hope that when they look at the photos, that it brings them back to those happy memories and gives them hope of more beautiful moments in the future.

Be sure to follow Crystal online! Facebook | Instagram

A big thank you to Crystal for choosing to give back with us. Want to follow her lead? Apply to be a volunteer photographer here.

Meet Mario – Hepatoblastoma

Meet Mario – Hepatoblastoma

Mario (Matias) is a very calm baby. He loves music and Mrs.Rachel.

Mario is a twin with a syndrome called Denys-Drash. He was at risk for developing Wilms Tumor but had a bilateral nephrectomy. He has end-stage renal failure and during treatment for that, was putting out a milky discharge in his dialysis bag. His nephrologist ordered an abdominal ultrasound and found tumors on January 13, 2023. He was then diagnosed with stage 3 Hepatoblastoma. Prior to his diagnosis, he had been much more tired and extra fussy.

He has had 4 rounds of chemotherapy along with all of his other treatments. Mario was already medically complex so this has only added to his troubles.

For us emotionally, this has all been very heartbreaking.

Mario’s Support Page

Hope Session by Crystal Freemon Photography | Facebook | Instagram

Meet Lupe – Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Meet Lupe – Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Lupe is very bright and caring. She loves to compliment people and make them smile. She is usually always happy. She loves the color pink, horses, and Barbies. She is shy but so outgoing at the same time. She always has so much to say when she gets to know someone a little bit.

Lupe was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on February 8th of 2022. Before her diagnosis, she would get sick and she would stay sick for a very long time. She ended up in the hospital for a week with multiple infections. They discovered that she was neutropenic so they sent her to a hematologist. After several visits, she ended up in the ER throwing up blood. When they tested her blood there she had pancytopenia and they saw blasts when her blood was examined with a microscope.

She has been through many lumbar punctures, a few bone marrow aspirations, and regular chemo and medications. We have struggled a lot since diagnosis. It has been hard to watch her go through all the treatments. We also live 2 hours from her treatment hospital which has been a struggle for us.

Cancer has changed our family life. I stay home while my husband works because she is unable to go to school during her current phase of treatment. We don’t really go anywhere and we distance ourselves from a lot of people.

Lupe is a very strong little girl!

Hope session by Crystal Freemon Photography | Facebook | Instagram

Meet Jessica – Wilms Tumor

Meet Jessica – Wilms Tumor

Jessica was diagnosed with Wilms Tumor in May of 2021. The only symptom she had was a tummy ache.

She had 33 weeks of treatment, 13 days of radiation, chemotherapy, and kidney removal. The biggest struggle has been the covid procedures at the hospital and not letting our family stay together through the bulk of this. Even on her last day of chemo, my older 2 kids were not allowed to celebrate in the clinic.

We were a close-knit family before cancer- but we are even closer now.

Hope session by Crystal Freemon Photography | Facebook | Instagram

Meet Brody – Lymphoma

Meet Brody – Lymphoma

In December 2018, Brody was diagnosed with a very rare peripheral t cell lymphoma.  The symptoms started on our Thanksgiving trip to Destin. While in the car, he threw up.  He only threw up once and had no other symptoms so we thought that he just was motion sickness.  A week later on our vacation to Mexico Brody got sick twice off and on. Once back to the states, he tested positive for the flu. Brody continued to be tired. He was coming home from school and going straight to bed.

Then on December 14th, after becoming sick at my company Christmas party, we immediately brought Brody to the ER. Thankfully we saw the doctor we did that night as she decided to conduct multiple blood tests that showed he had extremely high calcium levels. She let us know she thought there was a possibility that it was cancer and they were transferring us immediately to Atlanta’s Children’s Hospital where it was confirmed he had cancer.

We transferred his care to Nashville where we learned the underlying reason for the rare form of cancer appearing is due to a rare genetic disorder called ataxia-telangiectasia (AT). Basically it is a combination of every horrible disease you can think of cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and immune disorder. It is a disease that will continuously progress to the point where later in life he will need a wheelchair and could possibly not live to adulthood. 

Brody completed 6 rounds of chop e chemo, which he tolerated very well. With clear scans at the end of May, Brody underwent his first bone marrow transplant.  The hope was that Brody would gain someone else’s immune system so the cancer will not return and also fix the immune disorder caused by AT. The results showed the cells did not graft as they should.

In October 2019 the cancer returned shortly after returning from his make a wish trip.  He then went through 4 more rounds of chemo before his second bone marrow transplant in March of 2020. He actually received his cells the day COVID was announced as a global pandemic. The cells did graft however in June the aggressive cancer returned, even with a new immune system. 

At this point, there is no cure for his cancer and we decided to take Brody home and enjoy every moment we have left. 

Hope session by Crystal Freemon Photography | Facebook | Instagram