Hospice Portraits

Before I turned 30, I had lost both of my parents to cancer. Encompass hospice had taken care of both of my parents. I miss my parents every day, and even more now that I have kids of my own. These photos of my parents were the last ones ever taken of them while they were alive. I have a lot of regrets with their passing. One of them was not getting enough photos with them. If you are reading this, know someone on hospice, and they would like family photos please reach out to me. The photos are at no charge. Thank you.

I met Dallas when I was 14 years old, right before my freshman year of High School. I didn’t know he would be the greatest man I would ever have met in my life. 4 years ago he passed away from cancer. To this day, I think of him often and even reach for my phone to give him a call.

This is my mom, Kimberly. I had taken care of her for majority of my life. A few years after Dallas passed away of cancer, my mom was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach, thyroid and throat cancer. Little did I know, they would be the catalyst for my project and future non-profit. This photo was taken on Mother’s Day. She passed away several days after.

This is Kirk and his wife, Terry. Terry was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis back in the 1980’s. Unfortunately, she became wheelchair bound in 1996 and has steadily declined. He pulled out some old albums and started showing me how much fun she had before the disease took over her life. Terry passed away two weeks after this photo was taken.

Kirk and Terry holding hands.

This is Dorine. She is one of the hospice patients at Mountain View Crossing, and currently suffers from Dementia.

Lee visits Dorine, his wife, daily. They have been married for over 68 years! This type of love is something I only thought was possible in Hollywood made movies.

his is Joan, a dementia patient as well. I sat and talked to her for awhile before photographing her. I was telling her about my kids, how old they were and she started telling me about hers. She said she absolutely loves it here, and let me know it’s only been 3 months. It has actually been over two years that she’s been there. She spends a lot of her time coloring as shown here.