Skip to main content

Limitless Hope

My husband is a huge baseball fan. We joke in the south that women are "football widows" because their husbands are so wrapped up in the game. However, I'm a "baseball widow." From the time of spring training to the World Series, baseball seems like it's more important than me. (For the record, I know that's not true, but at times it feels like it.)

Anyway, we both love to shoot sports, so when we got the chance to shoot the Birmingham Barons, a minor league AA team, we were excited. Honestly, we were both excited, but obviously his was at a greater level. 

We didn't have press passes that would get us in the dugout so we had to shoot from the stands. In the infield area, there is a mesh screen in front of the stands that protects the fans from getting hit by stray balls. However, there are a few places that allow for cameras.

I quickly found one of those places that was good enough and decided to stick there while my husband explored to find the best spot. We had arrived early so that we could get those prime areas and, as I always do when I'm bored with my camera nearby, I looked for something to shoot.

After shooting some boring stuff, like the row of empty bleachers, I looked to my left and saw the cutest little girl in a too-big jersey holding a Barons foam finger almost as big as she was. I quickly took the photo... and was incredibly happy with the result.

As I've done many times before, I went to her parents to show it to them. I gave them my card and said that if they wanted it, they could have it. 

I had no idea what was about to happen.

Her mom gave me a little bracelet with alphabet beads on it that spelled out the word "Limitless" as she started explaining that her daughter wasn't just an adorable child with a foam finger. There was much, much more going on.

I found out this cute little girl has a very rare disease.

After having a rough start into the world - with complications during birth - she had a seizure when she was just two months old. She continued receiving different diagnoses from various doctors as she grew, and after years of not knowing what was going on, genetic testing revealed she has an SPG11 gene mutation, a very rare condition like ALS/Lou Gehrig’s Disease. 

They make it through the endless (and expensive) doctor's visits by selling the Limitless bracelets that they make as well as donations. 

I ended up writing an article about this little girl for a newspaper I submit to so I got to know a lot more about her. This was several years ago and though it's still a battle she and her parents are constantly fighting, she has surpassed all of the limits doctors and diagnoses originally put on her.

If you want to learn more about this special child's journey and progress, look up “Bryn’s Bunch” on Facebook or email them at brynsbunch@yahoo.com. 

                                                      (All images by Tracy Riggs Frontz)


The images above aren't available to order, but we have many other gallery images available as custom prints, fulfilled by a professional lab, at https://NovelPhotos.Instaproofs.com.

If you have any questions, email NovelPhotos@yahoo.com.

If you don’t have time to order today, feel free to take a business card and order later using the middle QR code. The photos will be under “Trussville Library Gallery.”

If you have any questions, email us at NovelPhotos@yahoo.com.

If you want any hand-signed, get in touch with us before ordering. We can direct you to a gallery that doesn't have our digital signatures on them and we can work out what works best for you to get the signature you want.

To order a signed copy of Tracy’s book: Behind the Lens of a Storyteller – My Journey as a Photographer/Writer, go to https://NovelPhotos.instaproofs.com/BehindtheLens Note that shipping is included – be sure to use the coupon code “SHIPPINGINCLUDED.”

Do you need a highly experienced, budget-friendly photographer for your family or business?

 Go to https://NovelPhotos.com to see our work. Use the “Contact Us” page or email us at NovelPhotos@yahoo.com to find out how we can meet your photography needs.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Emerald Fields

 In 2017, my daughter and I were able to go on a trip to Ireland. It was special in many ways. 1 - My daughter turned 18 in the air on the flight to Ireland. Because at least then their legal drinking age was 18, I was able to buy my daughter her first legal drink... twice (I got to do it again here when she turned 21.) 2 - Due to moving back to Birmingham in the middle of my daughter's junior year in high school, we decided that home-schooling her would be better than changing schools for that amount of time. That meant she wouldn't graduate in the traditional sense - no walking across a stage, getting handed a diploma (or piece of paper as a place-holder for the diploma), and moving her tassel from one side to the other. When I was blessed with the resources to do this trip, I planned to hold a surprise graduation in Londonderry, a city in Northern Ireland where we have distant relatives. We were able to have it on a rooftop in the middle of the city and I live-streamed it (b...
Post a Comment
Read more

Stage Snapshots

Concert photography is something both my husband and myself really love. The lighting is often amazing and it can be one of the easiest times to get a really great shot. We have probably shot well over a hundred professional musicians at their concerts. I will never forget my first professional concert as a professional photographer - TobyMac. Once we got to the venue, there were issues with locating my press pass (we later came to find out this happens a lot). While we were waiting to get in, I happened to find a YouTube recording of the concert on the same tour a few weeks earlier.  It was extremely helpful. When we finally got the press pass debacle straightened out and the concert started, we already had an idea of where the action would be on the various stages on the arena floor. My then-boyfriend/now-husband didn't have a press pass. (I didn't know to ask for one for each of us.) We didn't know tricks about where to stash our stuff during the concert at that point an...
Post a Comment
Read more

Trussville

There isn't much to say about a sign. Instead, I'll tell you how we each got here and share an article I wrote for the "Alabama Magazine." Travis was born in Ohio but moved to Florida when he was young. His brother-in-law got a job in Trussville and he moved with them... and lived in various areas of Birmingham before landing back in Trussville after we married. I was born in Birmingham. I met a man who lived in East TN. We fell in love, got married, and I moved there.... but then we divorced. I stayed for years, but about ten years ago, I left that beautiful area to move back to Birmingham - this time to Trussville.  Here I became a professional photographer and writer. I met my wonderful husband. I began learning ASL again and became part of a Deaf community. I started playing guitar on my church's worship team after a couple of decades of not playing.  I'm thankful we're here. Now, "A Trip to Trussville", published in the Alabama Magazine, Mar...
Post a Comment
Read more