The Day I Met Said

DSC_4283 copy, originally uploaded by Photo2217.

Months later I am sitting in my home office editing photos of Said. Said is a child that crossed my path in the spring and had been diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy previously. He’s the first person I know with this condition, and at this point am clueless of the common symptoms and limitations someone with Cerebral Palsy may have. I smiled in our greeting and he returned the grin. He sat on the hospital bed with his mom Charlotte and was trying to adjust to his new living situation and the at first seemingly strange life in the ward.

And as I introduce myself in the ward the talk during the rounds is coming our way. I can hear the medical team going over his condition and I hear the words Cerebral Palsy, and then the conversation and contemplations of the medical team deciding whether or not orthopedic surgery will indeed make a difference. They look at the calluses on his knees and recheck his legs and know that he has spent his whole life crawling. The surgeons look at his ankles and legs and believe with a few simple incisions and after months of physical therapy he might be able to walk. The incisions will open up the ligaments and stretch his feet and may hopefully help him balance and become a bit more independent. So after sometime it was agreed by the medical team that they indeed believe that something could be done for Said. The next day he will go into surgery and his recovery/healing will soon begin.

Said, Charlotte and myself went into the make shift photo studio. We placed Said in a chair and moved the chair about to get the different angles we needed for the medical photos that we would place in his chart. Each click of the camera placed a bit of love for him in my heart. Permanently.

When I photographed him for the medical charts, I truly saw a little boy with the most captivating smile. Bright eyes and gorgeous dimples haloed him. He had the kind of smile that most politicians and media personalities spend years trying to earnestly capture a similar beam. His is fully genuine and non-coerced.