The Camp Goodtimes Wine Auction

Coming up this March 27th at the Harbor Club in Bellevue is the annual Camp Goodtimes Wine Auction. The gala event historically has been able to raise enough money to entirely fund one full week of summer camp for pediatric cancer patients and their siblings from around western Washington as well as Alaska. With this additional support, there are now two separate camp sessions each summer, enabling approximately 240 kids to attend and have the time of their lives.

The American Cancer Society's Camp Goodtimes is now in its 27th year and the impact that it has had on kids, volunteers and everyone that has come into contact with it has been enormous. Thankfully the survival rate for pediatric cancers has risen dramatically over the years but the devastation that cancer causes in the life of a child has stayed the same. Cancer is a huge dark cloud over childhood and for some survivors that cloud can stay with them for the rest of their lives. Camp provides a place that is filled with unconditional love and acceptance and bonds are created there that just get stronger over time.

As a volunteer for each of these past 27 years Camp Goodtimes has given me so much. It has given me the chance to meet and get to know kids who I will never forget and the pleasure of witnessing first hand classic moments that I know couldn't happen anywhere else. But mostly, camp has allowed me to grow older without growing up.

And that is my wish for everyone one of our campers.




I produced a video to help people get to know what Camp Goodtimes is all about. I'll be showing this at the Wine Auction to allow guests an inside look at what camp is all about. I hope you enjoy it!

http://www.youtube.com/user/CaptMooselips?feature=mhw4#p/a/u/0/P_MztE27m3E

If you would like to attend the Wine Auction or make a donation please visit;

http://www.campgoodtimesauction.org

Christa & Michael

I enjoyed a nice afternoon in the studio recently with Christa and Michael to take some engagement portraits. I'm really looking forward to photographing their wedding this August. About 5 few years ago I had taken Christa's senior portraits including this very cool one in a very cool Crystal Lake.



Connecting the dots with people through time is one of my favorite things. To watch as they grow and change and enter new stages of their lives, AND to be there with a camera to document it is one of the core reasons that I do what I do. The bottom line is that I'm sentimental. Life zooms by so you have to jump out and tackle it from time to time; wrestle it, capture it, remember it, and then let it go so it can continue on to do its inevitable thing.

Christa and Michael's summer wedding will be here before you know it. They're enjoying their pre-wedding time at the moment by vacationing in Europe. I offered to go with them for some "location engagement portraits" but they didn't take me up on it unfortunately.

Congratulations in advance to a wonderful (and very photogenic) couple!

XENA WALKS!!

Today was a huge day in Xena's comeback. Miles and I met her and her parents in Seattle to witness and record her first steps with her brand new leg. 24 years after learning the first time, she had the chance to do it again, but luckily, this time she wasn't wearing diapers.

Xena did fantastic today. She was emotional, loud (as usual), and completely psyched to be walking, albeit slowly and cautiously. Her parents, Connie and Denny, were looking on with pride. Xena's brand new tennis shoes looked great and while I was pressing down on the end of the shoe on her prosthetic leg I said, "Just tell me where your toe is."

Geez Megan laughs loud.

More later but I just had to share some photos today.

Xena and Selves

Just over two months ago, Xena (aka, Megan) was airlifted to Harborview Hospital clinging to life after being extracted from some concrete pilings that had shifted at a shipyard, crushing her legs. The other night she was clinging to the man who used a crane to lift those pilings off of her, her fiancé, Selves. Well I guess if Xena is the Warrior Princess, and since she and Selves are now engaged, hmmm...should I call him "Prince". Or "The Crane Operator Formerly Known As"? Well, I guess I can figure that out later. For now I'd just like to share some of the portraits that I took of them in my studio the other night.





Megan didn't just dodge a bullet in that accident a few months ago, she dodged machine gun fire from multiple assailants and she miraculously will soon be literally "walking away". In fact, this Friday she hopes to be taking her very first steps with her new prosthetic leg. Her comeback tour now is already well underway. The evidence I think is in these portraits. Megan's spark is so apparent, as is her love for Selves. Selves, to say the least, not only scooped Megan up out of the jaws of death, he has been looking after her ever since. He spent every single night with her at Harborview and judging by the size of the engagement ring on her finger, he intends to be in this relationship for the long haul.



That night in the studio was the first time I had the chance to hang out with Selves. I came away very impressed by him, especially his love for Megan. I was also impressed by his arms! I told him that he's a natural as a crane operator because if the crane ever breaks it's pretty obvious that he could just lift whatever he needed to by hand.







I was constantly struck that night with the realization that I was photographing a woman who recently was so close to death but instead was brought back by the skill of so many people (including some nifty helicopter handling). She was given a new lease on life and here she was enjoying it with Selves and being as loud, goofy and beautiful as ever. I love the last photograph below. In it she seems to be saying, "Yeah, whatever, I lost a leg, I'm over it, what's next?" Well, the next thing is learning to walk...again.

23 years after taking her first steps, this Friday she will try once more.

Happy Birthday Caity!!

Caity is joining the ranks of the world's teenagers today. Turning 13 opens a brand new door for her on her unique path to growing up. She's had to take a much different road than most as she continues her cancer struggle. I hope dearly that her latest rounds of chemotherapy will rid her body of the cancer that she has been facing since age 7. At that time she was officially diagnosed with Metastic Solid Pseudopapillary Pancreatic Cancer. She underwent abdominal surgery to remove the cancerous tumor and then had scans every 4 months to make sure it hadn't come back. This went on for 3 years; 3 years of wondering and anticipating that next scan and then breathing a sigh of relief when they showed nothing.

Caity's life was to change dramatically when on one of those dreaded scans they found that the cancer had come back with a vengeance. It was everywhere in her abdomen, from her stomach lining to her spleen and liver. After a nine hour surgery to remove all the cancer that they could find they just had to wait, knowing that it would eventually come back again. It did, a year later. This time, they had to take most of her pancreas, causing her to become diabetic. Caity also lost her spleen causing her to become more prone to infections. Throughout this arduous battle the doctors are still confused by this cancer. In fact they haven't seen any other like it.

Last spring Caity relapsed again. Her doctors felt that the surgeries themselves were causing the cancer to become more active so a different route was chosen. Since her cancer started in her pancreas she is now being treated with a chemo drug used to fight pancreatic cancer. This means more and more weekly trips to Children's Hospital in Seattle for treatment. Recently after yet another scan, they finally got some good news that the cancer had not grown at all. So for now, she and her family are staying the course and continuing on her present protocol.

I had a wonderful visit with Caity and her mom Misti at Children's last week where they had come in for this new round of chemo. I actually first met Caity two years ago at Camp Goodtimes in June. Later that summer she also attended a Campfire camp, Camp Sealth and I was the captain of the boat that day that took her to camp. Even though photography has been my full time job for over twenty years now, I still drive the Argosy boats a couple of dozen times every summer, mainly driving the Goodtime II and taking kids to Sealth. I've been doing that for 30 years now, and I hope to do it for about 30 more.





Last summer when Camp Goodtimes was ending, Caity walked up to me and said, "Mooselips..." (if you didn't already know, that's been my goofy camp name forever) "...would you come visit me at Chldren's Hospital sometime this winter?...Cause my cancer came back?" How can you possibly answer that question? "No, I'd rather sit around and play video games." or, "Gosh no, but thanks for asking. I happen to be quite self-centered so it would never occur to me to go visit a friend in need." I usually try to come up with something funny to say, but with that question the only thing that came out was, "I'd love to." And I responded that way not out of any guilt whatsoever. I was just so honored that she wanted me to visit and I was looking forward to the time when I could do just that and hopefully cheer her up a little.

I tried to keep up on her progress after camp but didn't hear of any Children's visits until after they had happened. I did have a very nice visit with her and her family on the Camp Goodtimes Holiday cruise last December (Argosy Cruises has donated the boat for 20 years in a row now). Recently, through the wonders of Facebook, I knew Caity was going to be admitted to Children's to, as her mom's status indicated, "Face the Monster". I was in Seattle with my son Miles and we tried to call them at Children's first but didn't have any luck so we just showed up. While checking in on the oncology floor, Misti actually walked up to me and said with surprise, "Hey Mooselips. I'm Misti, Caity's mom from camp." I said, "I know, we're here to see you both!" She gave me a confused smile and asked how I knew they were going to be there, to which I replied, "Facebook." She chuckled and added, " I LOVE Facebook". She then immediately took us back to where Caity was sharing a room with two other patients, the room being divided into three separate areas with curtains. Misti said to Caity, "Honey, you have visitors!" Caity said in a very confused, bordering on upset tone, "Who?!?!" I then started singing "Little Red Wagon" as I walked around the curtain with Miles. Seeing her face light up and to hear her say, "Mooselips!!" just made my day. She had seen Miles before a number of times at camp. A few minutes into our visit she looked over at Miles and said, "You look like Joe Jonas." Referring to one of the Jonas Brothers teeny bopper band (sorry Caity, that's the best description I can come up with for them!).



Misti had asked me before if I could take some photos of Caity sometime and even though the hospital wasn't the greatest setting, it does represent their reality at the moment. I kept thinking to myself how amazing she looked AND how great her attitude was. Considering what she has been facing and what lays before her, she still can break into that enormous smile so quickly. I know that besides all the physical abuse that cancer has unleashed upon her, that coping emotionally is another thing entirely. I am confident that with her spunkiness and her ability to start cracking up in an instant, even after a dumb Mooselips joke, that she has the ability to keep facing this with strength very uncommon for a 13 year old. I think it definitely helps to have something fun to look forward to, like Camp Goodtimes, or more immediately, an awesome birthday party. So today, Caity is having a huge "Happy 13th" party thrown for her that will feature all kinds of craziness, including belly dancing! When she told me that, I told her that WHENEVER I dance, it turns in to belly dancing by accident (the new workout schedule should make that happen less frequently though I hope).

Caity you are a remarkable young lady with a huge heart. You truly have a lot to teach the world and on this your big day, turning 13, I wish for you crazy-belly dancing-hanging out with friends-laughing so hard till milk squirts out your nose-present opening-junk food eating (but be careful about that!)- birthday wonderfullness. My sincer wish for you is to have at least 90 more just like it.

Happy Birthday!

Remembering Mary

Mary Blackman, one of the owners of Argosy Cruises, passed away recently. I attended her memorial service Friday, fittingly, aboard the Royal Argosy at Pier 56. Hundreds of friends and co-workers were treated to a wonderful evening of remembrance. It was actually her second memorial. With so many family and loved ones in the Midwest, a memorial in Chicago was held recently also.

Mary and her husband John became primary owners of Argosy Cruises in 1990. They were married for almost 55 years after having been high school sweethearts. 55 years together...that just blows my mind. John's devotion to Mary was truly touching and especially during the last few years when Mary's health was deteriorating. John stood before us the other night to share some thoughts to the group and I just sat there in awe of this man who I respected so much, speaking from his heart about the love of his life. It was heartbreaking and wonderful at the same time.

Mary and John have been huge supporters of Camp Goodtimes ever since they first climbed aboard Argosy. Camp Goodtimes is a week long camp for pediatric cancer patients and their siblings held on Vashon Island every summer. The first time they ever saw me was on a Camp Goodtimes cruise day. I had just dove off a tower at Waterfront Park and was swimming out to the Spirit of Seattle which was filled up with kids and camp counselors. An Argosy employee was standing with John and Mary on the pier and John asked, "Who the heck is that guy?" "Oh, he's one of your captains." When I was informed that the new owners had seen the dive and swim I was a little nervous to meet them (you never get a second chance to make a first impression of course). When I did meet them I was instantly impressed with their wit, charisma and sense of humor. They wanted to know more and more about Camp Goodtimes. I sat down with them and showed them a video I had produced for camp to show to prospective donors. It told the story of little Anna Zenkner and her cancer struggle. The video started with Anna walking in to MaryBridge Hospital in Tacoma for a check-up prior to getting more chemo and ends up with her at Camp Goodtimes that summer, completely bald, but smiling, dancing, and having the time of her life. Mary and John watched the video intently and I saw Mary taking notes. I knew she was touched by Anna's story.

With former owners Lynn and Alyce Campbell originally offering the Spirit of Seattle for an all day cruise for the kids in 1989, I was worried that the new owners wouldn't carry on and make it a yearly tradition. Well, my worries were unfounded. This summer will mark the 48th time (with Christmas cruises since 1990 and now two summer cruises each year) that Argosy (and formerly Seattle Harbor Tours) has donated a boat for the children of Camp Goodtimes. Their support has been completely unconditional, with no requests for publicity whatsoever. They have supported camp because they know what a difference it makes in the lives of pediatric cancer patients and their families.

Over the years, watching that boat pull in to the pier packed with smiling, waving, screaming, singing and dancing children, Mary and John could see the result of their philanthropy. They were moved deeply by the display of energy, emotion and personal strength of these kids and I didn't really realize how much until after Mary had passed away. At her family's request, in lieu of flowers, they wish that remembrances be made in Mary's name to the American Cancer Society's Camp Goodtimes West (www.campgoodtimeswest.org).

With all of the great causes that Mary and John have supported over the years it was Camp Goodtimes that touched them most.

I'll miss you Mary. I still remember that warm summer evening back in 1992 when I took that portrait of you while having a "Beer on the Pier". I loved seeing you at a party and kneeling down next to you in your "power chair", hugging you and giving you a kiss on the cheek. Even in a brief moment, you made someone feel special. Thank you for making my own kids feel special too. You truly made a difference in this life and the traditions that you established I know will continue. And don't worry about John. The strength that he showed the other night aboard the Royal would have made you so proud. Judging by the outpouring of support for him that night, rest assured, he will be well taken care of.

An historic day for Xena!

Yesterday was Megan’s first full day with a pair of crutches in the house. She sucks at them. She said that she has already fallen a number of times but knows she’s going to get better and better with time. I watched as she gingerly stood up with them and moved slowly forward. She was under strict parental orders not to use her crutches when they weren’t there but she was anxious to show Heidi and I how good she was doing. She maneuvered through the kitchen with Heidi shuffling closely beside her. Megan laughed and told Heidi she was freaking her out and to move away and give her some space. I quickly took a photograph and she hobbled back into the living room with its plush soft carpet. That was a good thing. I turned away for a split second and heard her say, matter-of-factly, “Ohp, I’m fallin’.” That was followed by a muffled thud and immediate laughter. She was one inch from her wheelchair when it happened. She knows she’s going to fall many more times along the way and she’s ready for it. For her entire life, she has been able to use her legs to regain her balance when she has stumbled, but now, her lower right leg and foot are gone so her body has to relearn how to protect itself. Incredibly, just two months after the accident that almost claimed her life, she was able to stand and put her weight on her shattered and subsequently repaired left leg. One reason that she is so unstable she says is that she feels so tall. She hasn’t stood up in two months. The last time she was walking upright was at the shipyard moving along a catwalk just before being crushed by the shifting concrete.

We all settled back down in the living room and Megan took Heidi and I on a brief guided tour of her ravaged legs. She started the tour at her upper left leg skin grafts, passing the area where she had seen her bone protruding from her skin when she was pinned by the 30 tons of concrete. She moved from there over to her upper right leg, which was the destination for the skin grafts, down past the staple and stitch scars to “Shorty” (as she lovingly calls her stub) and we listened while she described the way that they folded over her damaged skin to close up her wound. From there we switched legs to her lower left leg where at regular intervals there were drill holes from the screws that were inserted to hold her bones together. The final stop on the tour was her left calf. They had taken half of her calf muscle and actually twisted it around and up to the side of her leg where a huge hole had been. The relocated muscle will take a while (up to a couple of years) to get used to its new location and the divot where it was taken from will eventually fill in with new muscle. It was an exhausting tour of the complete carnage that was inflicted upon her and in true Megan-style, as a tour guide, she knew the route well, and delivered her narrative with enthusiasm and humor. How was that possible, just two months away from almost losing her life? I am amazed yet again, and I think I’m going to be feeling this way a lot as I continue to follow Megan along on her recovery.

I really think that she will be running by this summer. Keep it up Xena!