Valentine's Day Mini Sessions to benefit Julia Rae Malicki
Julia Malicki is the daughter of one of my dear friends and I have been following her cancer journey since her diagnosis. This little girl is very near to my heart and I pray for her family often. Although prayers are important, I felt called to do more so I held Valentine's Day Mini Sessions in my Waukesha, Wisconsin studio to benefit Julia as she continues her fight against retinoblastma.
On October 14th 2016, Julia was diagnosed with retinoblastoma in both eyes. Retinoblastoma is a rare eye cancer that mostly effects children. There are only about 275 cases in the United States and unfortunately there are no treatment options in the Milwaukee area that can save her life. For the last 3+ years, Julia's parents have been traveling with her to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York for her treatment. On August 31 2017, Julia lost her right eye to her cancer and has been continuing to fight to save her left eye and her life. After a short time with no new cancer growth in her left eye, her cancer unfortunately returned this year (January 2020). The toll this disease has taken on Julia and her family is so great and the struggle they deal with on a daily basis is more than anybody should have to endure.
I set out to raise as much as possible for the Malicki family, although I was really hoping to raise more than last time. I held Valentine’s Day Mini-Sessions to benefit Julia two years ago and was able to provide a $1300 donation to the Malicki’s at that time. Check out some photos from the 2018 sessions below!
Want to know how much we raised this year?? Were we able to raise as much as we did two years ago?? These cuties below participated in this year’s Valentine’s Day Mini-Sessions to benefit Julia Rae. You’ll probably see a few familiar faces as two of the families from last time joined us again. Thanks to you all, we were not only able to reach what we raised two years ago, but we BEAT IT!
With the help of the generous families you see above, I was able to present Julia and her mommy with a check for $1365 this week. I also brought along some yummy Starbucks because who doesn’t love Starbucks?!
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you all for your generosity and prayers. If you would like to keep up with Julia’s fight or donate to support her family at this time, please visit her Facebook and GoFundMe pages.
Facebook page: Prayers For Julia Rae
GoFundMe page: Fight For Julia